


Evermore

by rezuuroar



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Champagne Problems, Cowboy Like Me, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gold Rush, Hurt/Comfort, Ivy - Freeform, SasuSaku - Freeform, Team 7 friendship - Freeform, Tolerate It, Willow - Freeform, based on a taylor swift album, sasusaku au, tis the damn season
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:26:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28944399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rezuuroar/pseuds/rezuuroar
Summary: Sakura Haruno, a young woman who wishes to make a name for herself struggles to pursue her dreams as she goes to extremes to try to make ends meet. Life throws her in all directions until she feels wrecked and drained from the rollercoaster of her life. With one of her childhood friends refusing to come back home until he seeks the answers from his brother on the run, Sakura once again finds herself at a loss as her heart bleeds for him, and even more than her dreams, she wishes  for him to find peace too.Inspired by a collection of my favourite songs from Taylor Swift's album 'Evermore'.Characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto,
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Itachi, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	1. Prologue

Prologue

There she goes, pastel pink hair swaying in the breeze and a grin transfixed on her face as she flashes it to anyone who looks her way. Smiles all around, that's how she was known. Not a hair out of place. Sakura Haruno, eighteen years old who had just passed her medical exams in flying colours had her heart open, ready to take in anyone who needed it. Sunshine and rainbows... that was what the people of Konoha thought of when they looked upon Haruno. She was the epitome of spring and wherever she went, she brought a field of light with her, nurturing all the broken things around her until they could bloom like her namesake. Sakura would help the people of her village as much as she could - _most of her childhood friends have already embarked onto their journey of their future careers as she is one of the last to have not enrolled into Konoha university -_ giving all she could, forging bonds. She would even travel outside of the village from time to time, give her assistance and put her medical training to good use - _hiding her hidden black clouds from civilians, never revealing too much of her personal life -_ offering her skills and her warm and bubbly personality where she could. 

_She dresses it up well with her genuine smiles and care-free laughter, but beneath her mask, she bides her time, waiting until her victim lowers their defences. And that's when she move in. She digs her claws into them and suggest ideas that could well get them into trouble, all the while they trust her with all their heart. As their life deconstructs and she creates a facade of helping them, she can't help but find joy in their corruption. It is another's persons fate she has conquered, and all for her own satisfaction._

It is outside her own village that she makes the best acquaintances before departing, never really giving her own story to them. Who is she, this Sakura Haruno? And why does she allure everyone she comes across, as if she is some sort of electromagnetic force that pulls in _her victims. She takes their gifts they willingly give her without so much of a word from her; she is a master manipulator, and she can play you right into her hands_ and leave you feeling breathless as she winks those grassy, green eyes at you as you get lost within her green depths until you find yourself spiralling out of control wishing you could have known her for a lifetime, be with her _evermore._

She takes what she wants. 

And leaves you. 

Begging for more. 

Sakura Haruno - _"Isn't she the most beautiful thing?"_

  
  
  
  


  
  



	2. 1.

The stars align in the sky, and for a second, she swears she can see a glimmer of hope if she squints just at the right angle. But as quickly as she felt the beam of light rise in her chest, it flashed away before her, and all she was left with were her troubles. Her feet begrudgingly took her home, each step closer towards the apartment felt as heavy as lead until she was emotionally exhausted beyond her years. 

As soon as she got inside, she closed her eyes in order to not face the reality of the existence of  _ that _ room, as she blindly followed the path of the hallway until she could feel the metal handle of her bedroom door. Sakura stepped inside and threw herself on the bed, her limbs outstretched so she resembled a star she had spied only a few minutes prior. The defensive manner had become a habit of sorts, worked its way into her routine when she came home - she refused to allow herself to face the empty room where once a soul resided, for she could not face the ebbing numbness that came with the memories  _ that _ room bestowed upon her. 

As she lay on her bed, looking up at the ceiling, Sakura lost herself in the memory of him; the summer green days which had been so full of life and laughter...

_ Seven.  _

_ They were seven, she remembers it clearly, when the boy with the raven hair and bottomless onyx eyes with a smile as bright as the sun took her hand and led her towards their secret space. Their sacred space.  _

_ He was so kind. So  _ innocent _. When he had found her crying after being teased by the neighbouring girls, he had taken her to a promised land full of hope. She still remembers his words, even now, eleven years later:  _

_ "If you come here, your sadness would fade away!"  _

_ When she only looked at him with swollen red eyes that slightly widened, he defended himself. "It's true! Me and big brother come here sometimes! But I'm big enough to come by myself now, I'm seven! If you want, I could come here and be with you if you feel the sadness start to come back again."  _

_ Always so considerate.  _

Sakura sat up on the bed and looked at the picture held together by its frame that was settled on her windowsill. It was a picture of herself with her two childhood best friends who then eventually became her roommates due to circumstances changing. None of them had it easy, and it had only worsened now. 

_ He _ was gone. 

All three of them knew the day would come. Why wouldn't he go? 

Although they had been inseparable since she came back to Konoha with her parents when she was twelve, he had to leave their trio. 

To embark on his journey to find his estranged brother, seek out his answers. 

She only knew of fragments of Sasuke's past, how he had become an orphan when he was only eight -  _ after _ she had been forced to leave - but his tragedy wasn't her story to tell. 

The departure of one her male best friends' was still raw and cut deep although it had been months since he had set out, almost a year ago. There were so many things that she wished she could tell him, like how, like himself, she was one of the few that had not made it into Konoha University. It was not that she was waiting for his return to continue the steady stream that is life, no. It was more like, she had hit a dam, and the walls would not allow her to pass no matter how strong her current was. She did not come from an elite family, she did not have a rich lineage behind her with history embedded into the soils and roots of her village, and so she was not of the high class and did not deserve a seat at the university. 

Social standards were high and what was meritocracy when there was no space for hard work and perseverance? 

What was the value of her exam grades if they could not take her to reach heights that were unimaginable? 

In this corrupt world, Sakura only had herself, and was left to her own vices to defend for herself. 

If the world wanted sweet smiles and cheery laughter, she would give them that - as long as she could take what she wanted. It was during the day that she had been venturing out of the village, handing out her self-made medicine, assisting those in need... or so they believed. In turn, they had given her rich coats, perfumes, and bags - all that she had sold in the next town. 

It if was money she needed to get to high places, then it was money she would get. 

If it was money she needed to see if _ he _ is fairing well, then so be it. 

It was during her travels that she would also try to get as much information about  _ him _ as she could - although the task was akin to bleeding water out of stone. 

_ 'Where are you, Sasuke?'  _ she found herself thinking. 

What would he think of her now if he knew what she was up to: faking a mask for the world, playing the games of the corrupt, just in order to live her dream as a doctor one day and liberate the world from its misfeasance? 

Would he still  _ make a swing using tyres and ropes and help her swing up seven feet into the sky until she was giddy with laughter. Brush the hair from her face when she tripped and help her up when she was seven, thirteen, sixteen.  _

_ Build up her confidence and let her know that their friendship was as still as strong as it had been when they were seven - even though she had been absent during the darkest years of his life.  _

_ Smack Naruto for her when he would say something playfully suggestive about the way she was dressed.  _

Would he still accept her as a friend knowing what and who she is now? 

In just ten months everything had changed, and he wasn't here to see it. And she wasn't there when he needed her. Again. 

Sakura was about to pick herself up and get dressed for bed when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. 

"Come in!" she welcomed. 

The latch turned and the door opened and in came the only roommate she had left, the blonde with blue eyes that shone in delight, mimicking the stars. He brought a tray full of two bowls of ramen and some juice. 

"I figured you hadn't eaten again, so I got you dinner," Naruto explained as he shone his contagious grin at her. 

She smiled back and said, "Thank you, Naruto. But you really don't have to. I can look after myself-"

"Oi oi, don't talk yourself out of this one!" he chided her as he sat upon her bed and handed a bowl over to her. "Don't forget, I was in your position once too! I was the orphan everyone hated and no one wanted to adopt because I was the newborn babe that was found at the sight of the death of the previous Hokage-President or whatever. As if I was the culprit! It's only on my seventeenth birthday that it was revealed that I'm the son of Mr Namikaze and his secret wife, and that's why I was able to get into Law at Konoha-"

"Yes, Naruto," Sakura interrupted, albeit slightly irritated having heard this story a thousand times. "Everyone  _ knows _ now. And everyone's all deeply sorry for how they treated you, and you've got a ton of friends now."

"Ah, yeah, sure. But still, you and Sasuke are my first real friends, and nothing will ever change that! Me and him were like brothers in the orphanage, you know? Even if that fucking bastard refuses to come home still. You know, I think he blocked my number! I bet he still texts you doesn't he, that irritating little-"

"He doesn't." 

Naruto blinked profusely in shock and choked on the mouthful of noodles in his mouth. Sakura rolled her eyes at her doofus of a friend and elaborated. "He did say he didn't want any distractions. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't have a phone at all now," she mused more to herself than to Naruto. 

Naruto sat there cross-legged, bowl in hand and a stray of noodle sticking out of his mouth as he contemplated her words, his face crumpled up as he did so. 

"Hmmm.... Well, if you find any leads on him, you know I'll always be here to support whatever decision you make! Talking about support, you should really take my funds to support yourself," Naruto offered. 

"Naruto, you already do too much for me already by just letting me stay here rent free. I can't do that to you. You've had a rough start to life, so enjoy it now! Don't you worry about me!" Sakura smiled up at him as she tried to reassure her concerned friend. 

Naruto brought one hand to her shoulder and squeezed. "I swear, when I become Hokage, I'll change the laws of this land! You have my word, Sakura! It's unfair that you can't further your education and achieve your dreams just because you weren't born from a prestigious family, or that you can't get a decent paying job either because of that stupid rule!"

"Prestigious?" Sakura mimicked. "You really are learning new words since enrolling into uni, huh?" Sakura teased, a faint smirk etching onto her features. Around Naruto, she could always seem to feel at ease, even if just for a little. There was something about him that made her feel as if her burdens were lighter. She knew that Sasuke had sensed it too, which was why he had stuck along for as long as he did, she thought. 

Naruto blew a raspberry at her comment, causing bits of ramen to spray out of his mouth and fall on her bed. He managed to duck before she could discipline him with her strong fists. 

"Enough about me. What did you get up to today? Whose life did you wreck?" Naruto asked, keeping judgement at bay as he understood her situation all too well. 

Sakura fixed her empty bowl of ramen on the nightstand before she stretched her arms up high, all in preparation to relay her endeavours to one of her best friends. "There was this couple I came across about 15 miles away from the village. They seemed well-off enough. It looked like they were building a crib for their new member of the family, so naturally I offered to help. I gave the wife a couple of tips for her pregnancy, and she seemed to love to have a female companion to talk to-"

"Sakura-"

"What?" Sakura asked, slightly annoyed she was interrupted in the middle of her story. 

"You didn't harm the unborn baby did you?" Naruto's gaze was intense as he stared at her, willing her to tell him the truth, confess to her crimes.

"No! Of course not!" she replied, abashed that he would think so low of her. "Would you let me finish?" She huffed. "Whilst I was with them, I 'accidentally' dropped a tool on the husband's arm, as you do, and then I offered to help him.

"I put his arm in a cast and I gave him some of my self-made elixir which I told him would quicken the healing process, but really it would leave him paralysed up the forearm for a week," she concluded feeling satisfied with herself.

Naruto took a big gulp of his orange juice before saying, "Your revenge at the world is truly frightening, Sakura-chan. So this elixir... So... basically it's like you're fucking people and leaving them with a taste of you?" 

Sakura frowned at his choice of words, visibly irritated that he would use such an analogy to describe her exploits. "In a sense," she quipped back, her tone sharp and cold. 

A slight pause. Tension hung in the air before, "That's really fucked up, Sakura. You know you could ask your paren-"

"You KNOW that's out of the question," she spat back, refusing to even acknowledge the idea of asking her parents for financial security. 

"They're still your parents," Naruto tried again. 

"For YEARS they lied to me insisting the 'pretty little boy' I said I used to play with when I was seven was a figment of my imagination! They tried to convince me Sasuke didn't exist! HE NEEDED ME! AND THEY TOOK ME FROM HIM! HIS FAMILY BURNED TO THE GROUND AND MY PARENTS CUT ME OFF FROM HIM!" she seethed. "So give me one goddamn reason I should even look their way!" 

She glared at Naruto, challenging him to argue with her, disagree with her. He had opened up a faucet of emotions -  _ rage, anger _ \- and she needed to let it out. She  _ wanted _ him to tell her she was wrong so she could lose herself in the volcano that was boiling in her gut, ready to erupt. 

But all he said was, 

"I'm sorry, Sakura. It's just that, well, you know how it is for me. I've never had the privilege to spend time with my parents, so I wouldn't know how you feel. I was out of line." 

Sakura sighed and placed a palm on his knee. "No, I'm sorry, Naruto. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You're only trying to help..."

They sat in silence for a while, both contemplating each other's situations and how life had been unfair to both but in different ways. In some sense, they could almost be polar opposites. 

The silence was broken by the blonde as time ticked by, and the night growing older, crawling towards the time for when he would have to take his leave and return to his own room. 

"Sakura," he said in order to garner her attention. "There's another reason I came here. I just wanted you to have enough energy for when you saw it, which is why I brought you the food and, I wanted to know your mental state of mind. But I guess I can't keep it from you forever-"

"Naruto. Slow down. You're not making any sense." 

Naruto chuckled nervously and sheepishly smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

"I guess it would make more sense if I just gave it to you."

Naruto lifted himself up slightly and reached for his back pocket. He handed the contents of his hand to Sakura, and in her hand was a sealed envelope. As she turned the envelope over, something caught her eye which elicited a gasp from her:

In the corner of the unopened envelope, sat a drawing of a white and red uchiwa fan; one that was known to belong to one of the oldest families of Konoha: 

The Uchiha crest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many ideas for this fanfic and I've emailed myself dialogue and some pieces I've already written for later parts of the story and I'm so excited for you guys to read it... once I write my ideas into full-length chapters that is! 
> 
> For about a month or maybe less I've been so excited about this fanfic as ideas kept flooding through me, that at one point I was actually going to abandon 'Daylight' at its later stages and just start this off... But obviously I managed to stop myself from doing that... 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts and any predictions you may have about where the story will be heading!


	3. 2.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Partly inspired by 'Seven' by Taylor Swift.

The red and white of the infamous family symbol drew her back to the days when she would visit the main household of the Uchiha's. The row of shoes that were neatly lined up against the wall on the entrance of the house was something that had always caught her eye whenever she visited - not the crest that loomed above her as she would enter, framed up high for all to see the family's pride; nor the family portrait that was situated on the opposing wall of the front door. It was those damn row of shoes that had convinced her that Sasuke's stern father suffered from some strain of OCD. But more than that... whenever she would linger outside, she would hear the eruption of intoxication meddled with distortions of familial traditions and customs. 

She would hear the arguments that would fester between his beloved father and elder brother, and it would always frighten her, to know that such a pure, innocent boy resided in such an arduous abode. 

It was in their secret plotted land that she recalled herself one day saying to him, _"Your house must be haunted. It must be."_

_To that, he had put his defences up. "Ghosts aren't real. Are you having your bad dreams again? Mother says that you just need to face whatever is frightening you when you're awake if you want the bad dreams to stay away. And Mother is never wrong."_

_The ivy plants that had grown around their feet and the mossy rocks that were embedded into the soil seemed to encircle them together, drawing them closer as she leaned in and whispered as they both teetered on the edge of the rocks._

_"Nu-uh," she shook her head, dispelling his words. "It MUST be haunted. Because your dad seems to always be mad and that must be why! I heard him and your brother shouting again."_

_The boy was silent, a sullen look had passed over him as he sat there, a slight frown etched onto his features. When he didn't speak, she continued, "If you want, you can come with me. I heard Mama and Papa say how we might be venturing out - I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds exciting."_

_At this, Sasuke looked up from the ground and stared at her. "Venturing out? You mean you're leaving?" Even at the age of seven, he seemed to be able to decipher the elaborate language of adults._

_"Of course not without you!" she smiled at him. "Never without you. So you should really come with us. We'll move to Suna together, and we can be there forever! Drink sweet tea in the summer, just cross your heart and don't tell no other!"_

_Sasuke's pained face seemed to lift at her ridiculous notion. He flicked her forehead and said with a slight quirk of his lips, "You're so silly, Sak."_

_She giggled at his friendly demeanour and lost herself in happiness, flailing her arms around until she slipped off the rock she was perched upon and grazed her knee._

_"Sakura?"_

"Sakura?" 

Sakura blinked and looked up to see Naruto staring at her, concerned as his brows furrowed together. "Are you okay? You've just been staring at that envelope since I handed it to you. Do you want some space? I can go if you want-"

"No, it's okay!" Sakura managed to sputter out. "Us three have always been a team, right? So we'll open it together." 

"Even if it's just addressed to you? I mean, that's why I thought he was still texting you, you know?" 

"Naruto... That doesn't even make sense. If we were texting, why would he decide to change his way of contacting me?" Sakura perked up one pink eyebrow earning a shrug from the nonchalant blonde. 

Sakura took in a deep breath and manoeuvred her trembling fingers around the envelope until she had unsealed it and peeled out the letter encased inside. Her eyes wandered around the page, trying to divulge the few, scarce words, wondering what they meant. How had he known? And why now? The words seemed to swim into each other the more she scanned the words, attempting to process the ink stained on the parchment, but to no avail. 

"What does it say?" Naruto asked eagerly as he attempted to read the letter, suddenly having forgetting that he had just offered her 'some space' only moments before. 

She handed the letter to him as the words puzzled her, her head spun as she tried to piece it together as Naruto read the letter aloud: 

" _Sakura,_

_I am aware of your exploits._

_I need your assistance._

_You know where to meet me._

"The fuck? Is that it? Are you sure it's Sasuke? It's not even signed by hi- Actually, wait, of course. The bastard wouldn't care to sign his name would he? But hey, he reached out to you, so we can go tomorrow after my seminar, what do you sa-"

"But why?" Sakura asked, more to herself than to her friend. She was of certainty that it was Sasuke who had written that letter. She knew his handwriting from anywhere, even after all this time. And the red and white family crest that was stamped as a way of signature at the bottom of the letter screamed 'Uchiha' all over it. 

"'Why' what? Clearly Sasuke needs to you do something for him. Now I don't know how he caught wind of what you've been up to, and I don't know exactly where he's planning to meet you, but you don't need to be so anxious. He clearly understands why you do what you do," Naruto comforted her, sporting his infectious grin on his face. 

Sakura managed a small smile before she said, "Maybe you're right. But you can't come with me, Naruto. You've got a life here. I don't know what Sasuke wants or how long he needs me for, so there's no point in you tagging along as well when things have only just started to come together for you. Your dream is to become the President, and God knows we need someone more like you than Mr Shimura overseeing things. So please, Naruto, stay here," she pleaded with rationality. 

"You know the technical term is 'Hokage' right? Part of my course has been about researching the history behind that title... But anyway, what would that friend of yours think?" Naruto asked, scrunching up his face in protest. 

"'That friend...?'" Sakura mimicked softly to herself before it dawned on her. "Who? Ino?"

"Yeah, yeah! That loud-mouthed one!" Naruto made a face in disgust at the mention of her name. 

Sakura looked at her friend's reaction, slightly amused as she asked, "You don't like her, do you?"

"No!" Naruto huffed. "She's EXTREMELY LOUD and obnoxious too! Always getting into other people's business!" Naruto puffed out his chest in exasperation. 

Sakura stared in disbelief at her childhood best friend as he had just described himself the way Sasuke had always referred to Naruto when introducing him to anyone. She could almost hear his dark, brooding self say, _"And that loser is Naruto. He's extremely loud and obnoxious. Just pretend you care about what he's saying, or ignore him. That's what I do."_

"Next you'll say you hate that she's a blonde," Sakura suggested, egging him on, seeing if he'll catch on to her mocking him. 

"Actually I do!" Naruto had caught the bait. "Who does she think she is flaunting that hair and blue eyes of hers! Hmph!" 

Sakura stared at Naruto for one long minute... Before she erupted into laughter. "Sasuke's always been right about you. You really ARE an idiot!" 

Naruto sported a look of hurt on his face as his sky blue eyes softened like a child's. "Sakura-chan, why do you have to be so mean?" he whined softly, still oblivious to the irony of his words targeted at another blonde. 

Sakura shook her head with a small smile at play on her lips as if to dismiss their playful exchange of words. "I'll really miss you Naruto, and I'm sure Sasuke does too in his own way, wherever he is. But he asked for me and it's probably because you've got your path set out for you that he hasn't requested your presence. You understand that, right?" Sakura attempted to draw out his blessings for her to leave, but alas, he was unrelenting. 

"Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye, Sak? I'm coming with you, not for your sake, but for Sasuke's," Naruto protested, his brows stitching together as he demonstrated how serious he was. "I won't let you leave without me. We don't know what kind of trouble he's in nor exactly why he wants to so desperately meet up with you so suddenly."

"Charming," Sakura replied dryly. "And here I was thinking that you were concerned for a maiden in distress." 

"We both know you're no such thing," Naruto snorted. 

Sakura shone a wicked smile at her best friend, baring her teeth for a quick second revealing the devil that harboured within her, constantly itching to make its move. And it was as her loyal-to-the-bone friend raised his eyebrows at her with an amusing grin on his gentle face that the thought finally struck her. 

"Actually, you're right," the woman declared. "We'll go together." 

"Really?!" Naruto asked as his eyes widened, shocked that she would turn her heart at such ease of a protest. 

"Hmm," she hummed back in confirmation. "I just need to get a couple of things ready." With that, she jumped off the bed and left her friend staring at her back as she retreated out of the room and into the hallway. 

It was in the kitchen that she had taken herself and the used dishes too, washing and drying them, leaving them to rinse - doing her bit in the household, grateful for her friend who had done whatever he could - _whatever she would let him do -_ to make her livelihood more comfortable, easing her burdens and allowing her the reigns to do as she pleases as she wrecks others' lives, just so long as she doesn't bring her problems home. Oh how she loved him. Oh how she saw him like a brother, an extension of herself. Even if she hadn't been dealt with the best cards in the pack that is life, at least she had Naruto, and he was always there when she needed him. 

It was also in the kitchen that she brought out the red wine and two glasses, imprinting her lips on one, and stirring the white contents in another. Particles spun together, the white flecks dissolving until its traces were no more, solidified into the liquid; a devil dressed in rich red adorning the mask of an angel. Sakura lifted the two wine glasses, taking care to note which one was which, her nude lipstick stain a good tell-tale sign of which was hers in case she forgot, and her feet led her to _the room_. 

The darkness drank her in, almost suffocating her quite immediately as she stepped inside. It had been quite some time since she had allowed the pain to take her in, sweep her away until she was left with only an ache that could be soothed with false hopes and pasts that were so far gone, they almost seemed as if the memories of childhood innocence did not belong to her. But the pain that settled into her was not hers for her to keep. There was a reason that he had left, and with that, it was the pieces of his story that he had left behind here. 

In the dark she could still picture the family portrait of the dark-haired nuclear family, and his sweet face that smiled as his mother held him and her brother's shoulders. His father stood by his mother, and if it wasn't for his eyes, then it would not be apparent that he was satisfied, at peace, fulfilled with how his life had turned out. The shine in all their eyes were glistening, even in this dusty old room that _he_ had left. As she fell to her knees, the memories of him opening up to her and Naruto struck her like a bullet: 

_He had been acting differently all week, and she had surmised that it had to do with the fact that his brother had appeared on every news outlet. Gone was the Sasuke with his soft smiles and playful teasing, and in his place was a broken, vulnerable young man she had known that he had been hiding away from her. But here he was, on his knees in his bedroom clawing at his hair as he attempted to draw fragments of his life together._

_She had kneeled beside him and had held him as he had cried his frustrations out to her. But she couldn't heal his wounds, mend his broken wings. He had fallen - her light in the sky, her best friend - had fallen, and she didn't know how to help him._

_It was later in the week that Naruto suggested he release his tension through a spar. Sakura had seen them wrestle, box, kick each other around before. It had always been short of seriousness, but what she had seen that week from Sasuke was... different, to say the least. It was lucky for them that Sakura was known as a 'brain box' or 'Forehead' by a certain female friend and had enough knowledge of the human body to be able to assist the healing of fractured bones._

_It was by the end of the week that she had found him in his room packing. It was the hushed whispers between him and Naruto that had allured her to his room._

_"Sakura," he had said, acknowledging her presence without a single glance over his shoulder. She took in his white shirt and his black trousers that fit a bit too well before she sat cross-legged on his bed, beside Naruto._

_"You're leaving," she had declared, cutting to the chase, not wanting to tread around the topic any longer._

_When the silence dragged on, a little bit too much to feel unsettling, it had been Naruto who had intervened. "Sakura, don't be mad. Sasuke, he-"_

_Sakura raised a hand to stop him from his rambles and she cut in, "I know. It's fine, Sasuke. I understand. You want to find him, don't you, Sasuke? Itachi, I mean. Your brother. You want to track him down and ask him what happened to your... You want answers. I get it. I'm not mad. If you need to leave, then just go. Me and Naruto will be here when you're back, I promise," she had vowed, giving him her permission, not that he needed it._

_She still remembers how he had finally turned his head slightly around and had said, "Thank you Sakura." Was it then that his pain had become hers too? Or was it before that? She could not remember._

_'Have you found your peace, Sasuke? Or do you still wander the earth searching for answers?'_ She guessed she would know tomorrow.

The light flickered on and the presence that filled the room lightened any suffocating tension that had weighed her down earlier. 

"Sakura, you're still up? It's unlike you to be in here," Naruto questioned, gesturing around the room. 

"Ah, I was reminiscing... Drink with me," Sakura offered, the untouched wine glass pushed into his hands. He took his place beside her on the floor, and it was then that they had brought up stories about each of the furnishings. Unravelling long-forgotten stories of each ornament their old friend had left behind, promises of a sweeter tomorrow as they both mentally and emotionally prepared for what the future would bring. It may be hard, but they would get through it together. It would be like the old times again, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke - _or so Naruto thought_. 

They laughed into the night, untold tales on the tips of their tongues as the wine took its course, drugging its victim and leaving only the maiden with enough willpower to take her leave as the sun rolled over into the sky. It was with the rising of the sun that she had left an apology of sorts in the form of a kiss on the temple. She knew he had friends in high places, connections that he had formed with his friendly nature and eventually, with the revelation that he was the late Hokage's son. He was too well-known; he was a distraction. He was a nuisance. As much as she loved him as one loves any friend, he would only hold her back, and like she said, it was not him who was asked for. With one last look, she took her belongings and fled. 

***

" _You know where to meet me"._

She knew indeed. 

It had taken her a whole day to travel to the designated spot. The place where all their dreams had been burrowed into the ground, hoping for it to take root, when they were only seven. The land where they would meet, in what they had thought was their little secret, was now barren. The leafy green lands were still as green as they once were, and the lake still glistened like emeralds under the waking of the sun, and the mossy rocks were still rooted in their spot. But with so much seeming the same, it was all different. She couldn't pinpoint the gravity of where their platonic affections towards each other had bristled, nor could she feel the heat of a blush swarming up her skin as she tried to recall the times he had left her stupefied with happiness. In place of the loving memories that she had held close to her heart, instead of being hit with more flashes of a warm past, she was met with a path that led to a home. 

On closer inspection, it was more of a mansion. 

To think that he had quite literally taken root in their past full of hopes and dreams in order to keep the distortion of their reality at bay made her feel slightly queer. Had he changed so much in the last ten months that he had decided he would rather face the illusions of his own created reality, forgoing the dystopian, cruel way of life that they had been dealt with? Had they really been driven so far apart, that their vision of the future was no longer aligned? But then why had he called her here to him? To save her? From herself? She almost scoffed at the thought. None of it made sense, and none of it resembled the Sasuke she remembered. 

She realised she would get nowhere if her feet didn't start moving, and so she would inspect this new way of life with her own eyes. See to it that he was living well, and if they truly could not approve of the other's life choices, she would depart and gift him with her sweet farewells. 

As she neared the brown-bricked mansion that was well-hidden within the trees encasing it, she noticed the door was left slightly ajar. 

She pushed it open slightly to accommodate herself and she entered the lavish building. The pillars that greeted her soared up high, and when she preened her neck to look at its end she did not fail to notice the grand chandeliers that hung high above her, welcoming her with their incandescent glow. Artistic pictures draped the hallway on either side and Sakura was left frozen to the spot as she took it all in. She had never been allowed to enter a place with such prestige for her lowly birth, and she did not know whether to feel at awe for being welcomed to such a place, or insulted, knowing that her fate was not written for her to be in such places. 

Just as she was about to turn, intending to retreat with her heels hot and the fire within her burning with more rage at the world, intending to burn it to the ground into ashes, a voice halted her very thoughts. 

"I'm glad you came as swiftly as possible," the soft, gravelly voice sent shivers up her spine as each word was punctuated slowly, desirably. His voice was a contradiction of sorts: calming but also captivating, as if just the low timber of his voice was enough to send you hurdling into whirlpools of illusions. 

Her gaze found the man behind the voice, as she watched him as he was sat upon a throne-like chair. One leg folded over the other's knee, and his perfectly chiselled face perched upon the back of his hand. The lines on his face only accentuated his handsome features, and for a moment she swore she had forgotten how to breathe. 

He was beautiful. 

He could not be trusted.

"Itachi?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is me trying to put into words the different scenes that are plaguing my mind. 
> 
> What did you think of this chapter? Let me know your thoughts! 


	4. 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I wouldn't get a chapter out this weekend, but here I am! 
> 
> \- The flashbacks throughout the chapters aren't in chronological order.

3.

She lingers at the door, unsure if she should retreat or march into this foreign land and own it as if it's hers, putting an air of no self-doubt as she strikes her luck with whatever this is that she has walked into. In the end, she stays where she is, waiting to be beckoned, to be summoned, play it safe for now as she does not know her place in whatever game he is playing. Whatever game he has invited her into. 

She looks at where he is seated, on his throne at the end of the elongated table that rests at the far end of the vast hall. It is a wander that she didn't notice him at first glance, but perhaps she was too enamoured by the elaborate fixtures lining up the walls, or the artistic paintings draping the hall. On closer inspection, without a doubt, _he_ is the most exquisite artwork that occupies the first room of the mansion. Even being so far from her, she can still make out the slight red glint in his onyx eyes - maybe it is just a trick of the light, but she is sure that she has observed a red gleam in his eyes before:

_Sakura and Sasuke ran around their mossy rocks, jumping off logs, and making home within the sweet sounds of summer where Sasuke would kneel behind Sakura as he would braid her candyfloss hair. It was as his pudgy fingers worked their magic that she would talk his ear off, knowing this was the moment where he wouldn't interrupt her stories with his own remarks, as she knew full well without looking at him that his brows would be furrowed in concentration alongside the habit of biting the inside of his cheek._

_"The girls don't pick on me anymore. My friend Ino gave them roses so they would promise to stay away - at first I was quite surprised, as Ino always told me I should just be mean back, but then I understood why Ino did that. Well I noticed when the girls started screeching. The roses had THORNS on them!" Sakura narrated as she burst into laughter at the conclusion of her short story. "You should have seen their faces! They-"_

_But she was cut short by an unfamiliar voice. It sounded gentle, like a lullaby. "Sasuke, there you are. You had mother worried," the older boy said, the soft cadence of his voice sending shivers down Sakura's spine._

_Sasuke immediately sat up from where he was perched behind Sakura._

_"Big brother!" Sasuke greeted the other boy as he dusted off the soil and grass from his shorts. "You didn't have to come looking for me, you know? I'm big enough to come here on my own, you said it yourself. Besides, I'm with Sakura."_

_Sasuke gestured towards herself and Sakura's eyes widened as she realised she must have just been gawking at the older boy. Sakura closed her mouth and sat up, and like Sasuke, ensured she presented herself in a well manner by dusting her pink dress off. "H-hi", a timid squeak left the girl's mouth as a slight blush formed on her cheeks at the realisation that the older boy's dark gaze - flickering with a slight deep red as it reflected the sun's rays, she bemused - had never left her form._

_She still remembers the slight smirk on his face as he looked down at her and how his eyes shone with something she could not quite comprehend. Was it mischief? Amusement? She wasn't sure._

_"Sakura," he greeted her, her name on his tongue seemed exotic, almost foreign. "My brother talks fondly about you. And quite often."_

_It was Sasuke's turn to blush as he kicked his older brother's shin. "I do not!" he denied. "Let's just take Sakura home and go..." Sasuke pouted as he led the way._

_That was the first time she had met him. "Oh- okay!" Sakura squeaked as she followed Sasuke and his brother. "Nice to meet you, uh..."_

_"Itachi. Itachi Uchiha." The smirk still evident on his lips._

"Itachi Uchiha," she tested his name on her tongue again as if she was unsure if his presence was really situated in the same air as her. His name almost sounded like a question on her lips, he noted. "Why am I here?" 

The older man chuckled at the question as he observed her, his dark eyes glazing over her as if undressing her with his very eyes. "Why are you here, indeed. Unless I am mistaken, it is you who came to me, did you not?" 

Sakura's grip on the door handle tightened. She did not have enough finances to be wasting her time by dancing to the tunes of others when she could be conquering hearts and using them to fit her own will. "If you called me here to just waste my time, then I'm afraid I'll have to leave," she announces through gritted teeth. She is ready to take her leave, but it is just as she turns that she halts as she hears an amused voice ask, 

"And not find out my secrets?" 

Of course. Did she leave her wits at the door? Sasuke has been trying to track his brother down almost a year now, and has lost parts of himself with every year that goes by not knowing the real truths behind the demise of his family. By doing whatever Itachi bids, she could help her old friend by finding out whatever she could, with the hope to relay it back to Sasuke, wherever he was. 

She turns around and faces him again. She takes a step forward. And then another. 

"What do you want?" she asks, her voice curling into a snarl. "What do you know about me? And how?" 

She knew she was walking into the lion's den, but what else could she do? It had just occurred to her the words of his letter, 

" _I am aware of your exploits."_

It was imprinted on her mind now, and she would not forget again. 

She waited with baited breath as she stared with determination to succeed at getting an answer at his bottomless pitch black eyes - she could no longer see the red - and the smirk which had curled onto his lips. 

"I know that you want to curse the world for its unfairness. I do too. And I can help you do it. As to how I know... well, let's just say I have my own ways of getting around. I _have_ been escaping the police and the top private investigators' interrogations for ten years now," he answered her. If she was being honest, it was more than she had expected from him, as he had always been reserved and mysterious for the couple of months she had crossed paths with him when she was a mere child. 

Sakura took her time walking towards him, hoping each languid step was at least mildly intimidating as she took her place across from him on the opposing throne-like chair. 

"And what would you have me do, then?" 

Itachi nodded and spread one hand to gesture towards the seat she had chosen to sit at, in contrast to the more ordinary, less elaborate-designed chairs. "Take your seat beside me," he announced. "Stay with me, by my side, as we overthrow the government."

The realisation of what he was implying struck her like a chord. Her eyes dilated and his words nestled into her, prickling her skin, sending shivers down her spine like so long ago. She could feel the hammering of her heart against her chest, it was speaking to her, urging her to _run!_ She hadn't felt _fear_ , _anxiety_ like this for a long time. She _loved_ winning over hearts and then discarding them when she felt fit. She loved the adrenaline rush that overcame her when a crumpled heart could be placed on a notch on her belt. She lived on seeing the world around her burn before taking her victims' belongings as her own, whether they willingly gave it up to her, or she took it on her own accord as a prize to satiate herself. 

As she focused her breathing and her hazy glimpse onto the dangerously handsome man before her, she could tell through the blur of her anxiety that he was still smirking at her, a hand resting on the back of his right hand, as he awaited her response. 

"And what if I said no?" she had managed to deliver her question without a flicker of consternation. 

He brought his right hand away from his face and placed it on the table, thrumming it, making a tune that only he was close enough to hear.

"What other options do you have? Surely you don't expect to go around trying to con people your whole life? People who have no direct link to the hatred that you bear for the root cause of your trepidation and hostility. Think big. _Aim_ big. I have things against Mr. Shimura, Konoha's current President, that can tarnish his reputation for good. But as a suspected convict, I can't do it in my current state, and maybe I'll never have the opportunity. But _you do._ And you have the drive too," Itachi explained, still withholding some information from her, she did not fail to notice. 

Sakura took a moment to weigh his words, noting how he had a point about her conning people. What had she really achieved in the last ten months? How many innocent lives had she ruined? It was not their fault that they were born into a higher position than her, just like it wasn't her fault of her social status either. 

"But is tarnishing his reputation really enough?" she questioned. "Mr Shimura wasn't elected because of his popularity, that I am sure of. He has power and money. The two things that keeps you afloat in this accursed world. I'm sure his reputation is already damaged, not that anyone cares."

Itachi's eyes gleamed, and for a split second, she swore she saw red again. "I see you're not a complete stranger to how the higher-ups work," he mused, the smirk widening just a fraction was an indication that he was teasing her. "But I have dirt on Shimura that even the wealthy wouldn't be able to turn a blind eye on. We take down Shimura and his companions and his puppets, and the world will be at your very feet, Haruno."

His words intrigued her, drawing her in. She always had been a sucker for hustling her way up - _not that the politics of this world allowed it_ \- and gaining privileges - "So take my hand so nothing will seem amiss, Haruno," - and taking power away from those that had wielded and abused its power for too long. 

"You can stay here as we make our plans. I assure you, you will be in no danger here." 

The temptation was too much, but what else did she have? 

What other choice?

"But you'll have to throw away that buzzing phone of yours," his eyes narrowed as he locked onto her shoulder bag placed around her hip that was hidden from his view. 

She hadn't even noticed that it had been vibrating all this time. She took a quick glance and saw that she had numerous amounts of texts, calls, Instagram and Twitter DMs from none other than 'Naruto Uzumaki' or 'FoxyBoy', as his current Twitter and Instagram handles were. Sakura quickly took to her phone and closed her social media accounts before throwing her phone behind her. The sound of her screen smashing onto the marble tiles reverberated in her ears, but no so much as the chuckle that left the man's throat. 

"So what will it be? Allow me to promise my hand to yours? Align your pain with mine and take from the world what rightfully should be ours? Be my wife? Marry me, Haruno?"

"Yes." 

The answer was short and simple. But it was her closing statement on the matter. 

The phrase _"suspected convict"_ lingered in her mind, slowly unravelling things that would otherwise have remained clouded and buried. Puzzles that never fit together, that the Sasuke she remembered had time and time again had tried to piece together but lost his mind doing so, suddenly had been made clear to Sakura. The missing piece was, of a surety, the 'suspected convict'. 

' _If your 'pain', your 'unfairness of the world' has anything to do with Sasuke's torment of losing all his loved ones, alongside losing you - his beloved older brother... I will catch you out. I swear on my own life, I will catch you out. And bury you.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I PROMISE you this is a SasuSaku fanfic! You'll just have to be patient with me. In due time...


	5. 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The portrayals of characters and society in this story are not always necessarily a reflection of my own personal views. This is just fanfiction and just for fun, and not to be taken personally/seriously, thanks.
> 
> Some chapters in this fanfic might need a trigger warning but I don't know how to do that without giving away spoilers, so.... this is your first unspecified trigger warning? My writing is quite tame though.

4.

Gold. 

Everything was lined with gold. From the minute intricacies of the furnishings to the brim of the glass that had been lent to her, gold winked back at her wherever she went in this maddened abode, and she hated it. The first time that she has been given the privilege to enter such a place, and it is whilst she is playing a farce, a union bought by artificiality laced with dishonesty and a motive that is far beyond their reaches as of now. 

Sakura had roamed around the vast halls, rooms and grand garden wondering why one man would keep this all for himself. It was one thing she had detested about the rich, they occupied land and mansions as if they were trophies to collect, whereby people like her parents existed who were of lowly-birth, and only had their plot of agriculture back home to make ends meet. Although she had cut ties with her parents long ago, choosing to move in permanently with Sasuke and Naruto at the age of sixteen after years of having sleepovers with them, and other times with Ino, there was still a part of her that bled for her parents' struggles. They were still her parents after all. Despite the deceitful lies. Despite them not supporting her dreams, knowing what ill-fated luck awaited her and thinking she was wasting away her years at studying rather than caking herself up in preparation to marry another farm boy at the ripe age of eighteen, they had raised her. And it was something she could not change. 

As she paraded the hallway that led to her room - thankfully a room that was not shared with the older man - her feet padded against the coral gloss of the marble tiles, as she passed the grand windows that reached up high to the ceiling from the central lining of the walls. She could just about spy the vines that had laced around the window outside, framing the castle-like home, acting homely, but more like warding off any trespassers with what she could clearly outline as stinging nettles. 

The quarters which she was assigned to welcomed her with a red door and a gold door knob which she held in her hand as she twisted it, allowing herself to enter the room draped with silky curtains. The beds too were covered in the finest silk, and Sakura found herself using each exquisite material to weave her own gowns in her spare time. The majority of her time had been spent memorising the footsteps of Itachi's dance to his rhythm of suspected lies and shocking revelations; harmonising to the tune of his songs as he romanticises her stay, ensuring she has only the best sweetmeats and other prepared food and wine -  _ she plays his game as she sits on his lap, only eating what he does too, sipping from the same glass, intent on shadowing his every move lest he discards her after her usefulness is over.  _

It is from their third 'business meeting' when she sits across from him rather than cushions herself over his body that he reveals to her that he suspects Mr Shimura was behind the death of Mr Namikaze and his inconspicuous wife, and most probably behind Mr Sarutobi's death too. Both former Presidents who had been attempting to forego the polarising traditions and customs of Konoha which had left majority of the population under disarray, and at a mercy to the rich and powerful. Somehow, Sakura could see that there was most likely some truth to it. But what evidence was there to back up his claims? When questioned, his only response was that he could not disclose that to her just yet. 

Complications and trickery; tainted flirtations and grinding of molars.

A week had raced by and simultaneously, Sakura had felt as if she had made no progress at all but had turned over stones where she didn't know there were any, and had discovered a mine of gems, ready to be picked and used at her behest. 

She has not left the mansion in the week that she had stayed, she has been inundated in tasks of practising new skills of various fighting styles that she had been learning from the faceless YouTuber of 'SlugQueen'. From the various comments that she recalled back when she had her phone, however, it seemed that most of the demographic of SlugQueen's viewers were males whose interest had been piqued due to the curvature of the YouTuber's physique. As Sakura made her fists into daggers as she punctured the air in the gym room, she heard a low chuckle leave the lips of the man she did not trust, but had attempted to seduce with her charm.

Sakura, with her pastel coloured hair tied into a messy bun sweat trickling down her body, her toned navel exposed and her shapely legs visible beneath the leggings of her kneecaps, looked towards the doorway to find the opposite sex smirking at her. He was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed which accentuated his forearms, his muscles bulging which would make any other damsel blush. But she was no damsel in distress - far from it, and he knew it too. 

His stare caused bristles against her skin as it always did. His uncomfortable stare which made her want to shift her feet to dissuade him from staring instead rooted her to the spot, and she stared back in response - in defiance. He would not make her squirm. 

"What do you want, Itachi?" she asked, her tone sharp, made to cut. 

Her determined emerald eyes locked onto his onyx, but as always, they were unreadable.

"I just wanted to know what all this ruckus was about, that's all," he said, his voice velvet - it could make any other woman swoon, but not her. She was not so fickle. He sauntered towards her and brushed a stray lock of her hair away from her face and planted it behind her ear. 

She did not tremble, nor did she dare show weakness. She allowed his deceptive hand to touch her, and she waited until he took his hand back to rest inside his trouser pocket. 

"So this is what you do when I'm out," he reflected, his voice not withholding amusement. 

"It's not like you'll allow me to leave myself," she retorted back, resentment evident in her voice. "What is it that you do anyway? And why won't you let me leave?" 

"Haruno... We agreed that first day not too many questions, perchance if you need reminding, you can think back on our conditions. And in regards to why I won't let you leave, well, where else would you go? Surely you can't go back after what you disclosed about how you left Uzumaki inebriated? You know what they do to mere civilians who cross the higher ranks, don't you? You're smarter than that, Haruno." 

Sakura's eyes crinkled slightly as she narrowed her eyes, disbelief etching onto her features, doubt creeping along her creamy skin. 

"Besides," he added. "It's cold outside. Snow has occupied these lands in case you've chosen not to look outside the windows or ventured into the gardens." He chuckled teasingly, playfully. But his eyes still remained distant, hiding whatever it was that lurked beneath. 

Sakura had seen the snow outside, and it was like nothing she had ever seen before. What had previously been green was now quilted in white. Snowflakes had painted every last crevice of the earth and the ground almost glistened like stars. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and somehow, the cold winter of February had beautified the wilted leaves and deadened plants of the land, leaving some sort of hope for this negligent world. 

It was as she was reflecting back on the snow-engulfed world outside that she felt the hand lined in green visible veins touch her waist. As she looked down, she could see where tips of his fingers were lightly pressing onto her skin whilst the rest of the palm of his hand sat atop the waistband of her leggings. Her eyes flickered up to meet his with a question in her stare, which he answered with, "Show me what you got, Haruno." 

And with that his grip on her tightened as he attempted to throw her down onto the mat, but as unprepared as she was, she was still able to defend herself by grabbing his other hand and twisting it behind his back, as far as she could reach from the position she was standing. But he loosened her resolve by kicking at her ankles to which she lost her balance and found her back planted onto the mat with a soft  _ thud _ . Itachi smirked and stood over her, bending down slightly as he offered her his arm. She took it and allowed him to pull her up. As she panted and fought to gather back her breath by wiping the sweat off her brow and quench her thirst, Itachi spoke, "I'm impressed. You've really got some skills there, Haruno." 

The soft cadence of his voice, as always, sent shivers down her, but she concealed her reflexive reaction by scoffing at his words. "For a woman, you mean?" she challenged him. 

The smirk remained but a brow rose. "No, I mean it," the Uchiha insisted. "Obviously you've still got some work to do, but you can definitely handle yourself. I can commend you for that."

Sakura eyed him warily for a second before she went back to stretching her limbs, covertly ensuring the vial she kept hidden under the waistband of her leggings was still intact. She rose up again when she heard Itachi say to her, "I've got something for you." 

"I hope it's a wet towel, I can really do with one of those right now," Sakura remarked snidely. 

The low timber of his chuckle resounded around the room, coursing towards her, making her realise just how close he was to her. She had to tilt her head up to face him in order to ponder about the lines carved into his beautifully etched Uchiha genes, and his long eyelashes that would put any females' to shame. 

"Not quite," he denied her, as his arms circled around the length of her neck until she felt a soft weight on her bodice. "But I do have something that will bind and seal our conditions and contract together, Haruno." She looked down towards the pendant hanging between her breasts and found red and white winking back at her, reflecting the bright lights of the gym room. Settled next to her heart, was the heart of the Uchiha's: the emblem of their family crest.

"Ah, and this too," Itachi added as he took her left hand and placed a piece of jewellery that announced to the world that her hand in marriage was to be sealed. Wounded around the ring finger of her left hand was a touch of silver, magnificently perfected with a ruby stone that shone secrets that had been harboured in the past and exuded curiosity for the future. Sakura recognised the ruby ring instantly. 

"Itachi, isn't this-"

"Yes. It's mother's," he confirmed, sadness ebbing into his words, and she could almost see pain in his onyx gaze of glass for a fraction of a second. 

"I can't have this!" Sakura insisted, twisting the ring to try to work it off against the friction of her finger. Alas, his hand clamped around hers and he whispered to her his heart that was more gripping than any of the other scandals he had disclosed to her, 

"It's all I have of her, Haruno. It's a sign of the matriarch of the Uchiha. That's you now. I want you to have it. You," he confessed. His confession left her wordless, staring at his lips and she almost believed him. If there was any sort of attraction between the two, mayhaps she would have even clung to his lips to console him for whatever terrors haunted him. 

_ But he was a man constructed by lies and secrets and she was no fool _ , so she accepted, feigning dumbness as she nodded without a word, agreeing to whatever madness he had coaxed her into. As he took his leave, the last thing he said without even glancing back over his shoulder was, "Our engagement will be in exactly one week. I will begin making the preparations." 

She watched him leave with his long hair tied back behind him swaying as he took each step. She held onto the Uchiha pendant that clung to her, and like a curse, it had started to bewitch her into thinking that perhaps by dining with him next week, she could unfurl some more secrets from him. Secrets that had to do about himself and the complexities of his family, and why he had been escaping the police and his younger brother for so long if he was as innocent as he claimed. She too, would begin making her own preparations. It was for this very reason that she had been creating concoctions, ready to extract any sort of fluid from him to enhance the drugs she would make for him and store her creations inside her self-designed dresses which had pockets stitched within the inside of the bodice. 

***

_ Later that night at dinner, she takes her place on his lap again and they clink glasses as she drinks from the same glass as him. They feed each other as if they were lovers, and not two who are using the other for their own gains.  _

_ They are drunk on each other's hoaxes - their captivating laughs capture each other as she giggles into his neck, her wine glass held around his face. His hand on her lower body, barely touching her, but just enough to have her balanced.  _

_ It is unclear whether he really wants her as she is - an intoxicating beauty who would charm any man until he loses all senses - but she goes for it anyway, and she takes his hand that night and follows him towards a room she had never been in before.  _

_ She is too drunk to take notice of her surroundings, but she is sure she has been placed on his bed and she feels the hot searing kisses against her neck. Is this what she agreed to? She cannot remember, nor can she speak a word or cry out that she no longer wants to be subdued by him and she is unsure what is happening - _

***

Blank.

She awakens.

Frozen. Naked. Alone. There is no evidence that anyone else had slept beside her, yet she can't help but feel that something is... off. Sakura's head and body feel like lead as she tries to lift herself up, and as she takes in her surroundings, at the vintage clock that hangs above the door, at the leather jacket that sits on a chair, at the old, wooden furnishings placed around marking and exuding testosterone and masculinity... she realises she is not in her own room. 

Sakura scurries around the room and finds her clothes on the bed from the night before and pulls it over her, before she finds the adjoining room which is hers. She opens the door to find a man in his fifties, wearing a two-piece suit, hair thinning and greying as he places a tray of breakfast on her dresser. 

Her appearance must have shocked him for he drops the glass he holds and it shatters, spraying water onto his shoes. 

"Who are you?" she asks, her eyes wide with caution. Who was this strange man and where was Itachi? 

"A-ah, I am sorry to startle you Ms Haruno!" the man apologises. "But I am one of your personal assistants until the big day! I will be tending to your every need, as will the rest of us, so please do not hesitate to ask for anything you may need." 

Had she miscalculated? Had she somehow mistakenly drunken or eaten something which Itachi hadn't? Had she gone mad and lost herself in some trip beyond euphoria; knocking onto insanity? 

"Are you alright, Ms Haruno?" she heard the man ask. He was definitely here. Standing opposite her. In the room which had been assigned to her and  _ only her _ . "Would you need any assistance?" Her heart hammers at her chest, drumming to her fear and caution that she has been tainted. The nakedness which she woke up in was not a state she remembers her being in before she passed out. She can still make out the slight bruises on her shoulder that is visible to this strange man, as well as the other ones on her body. She is an ornament ready to break - but she holds herself together, with bandaids of fury.

"Yes," she managed to say, her voice tight as she attempted to suppress her growing anger. "I need you to get out." 

The man blinked at her, processing what she had demanded and it was only when she snarled, "Now," with a glare that could kill that he complied and left her alone. No sooner than had the butler left, Sakura flung open her closets and found all her self-made dresses were gone. All the vials she had been encasing, all the notes of ingredients for different illegal medicine she had made and was planning to make were gone from her bags. All was replaced by elegant ballgown dresses and skirts, clothes made suitable for gym wear, and more smart casual outfits prepared for the day. Sakura took out one plain green dress and adorned it, paired with white leggings, vehemently threw it on before chasing shadows around the mansion which she had been subjugated to. For the past week, it had been only her and Itachi. But now, no matter where she went, Itachi was no where to be found, and instead there were 'assistants' and 'maids' tending to every part of the mansion, asking her if she needed any assistance. 

One night. One mistake. And everything had changed. 

She had let her guard down once, and she would not do it again. 

When Sakura was sure that the entrance was free from any housekeepers, she took perchance on the fact that she may not be followed or seen as she stepped out into the land of snow. Her feet dipped into the blank page and she made her mark on the world, writing her story with her footprints, wondering what path it will lead to as she narrated her tale. The crispiness of the snow under the soles of her shoes spoke to her, whispering stories she could not yet decipher. She followed the path that had been marred by previous footprints, footprints that were larger than hers and she was sure she knew who it belonged to - the man who had defiled her and she had vowed to take back what he had stolen from her: answers to questions, freedom, her chastity. 

She would hunt him down. Confront him on a playing field where she had some footing, not where she was trapped and was a stranger to the walls that housed and caged her in. So it was that she fled from the mansion, escaping from the whiteness that had covered all the greens that she had once known as her safe haven. A place she once held and knew as innocence and a place that should could escape to... had now been marred by the one man who had always unsettled her. Here she is as she escapes the only place she ever knew to be truly free - a place she knew was peace as the deep greens of the leaves and ivy that hung around trees called her name - now it was distorted. Fragmented. As she was. 

As the frost settled onto her skin and kissed her hair, Sakura made her way defiantly through the snow, not even allowing the numbing coldness to cut away at her fiery rage that had been brewing. 

***

The path had led her towards a town where the snow was not so prominent. The tiled brown roofs could be seen, and traders and customers alike worked their way across the market stalls. It was clear as the snow how the people of the town had been divided by their titles and status - and it seemed that with Sakura's rich material of her mint green dress, she had been coined to be one of the wealthy. As she busied herself with looking for a man in his mid-twenties, easily identified by his raven black hair elegantly matched with his eyes that drift you off into illusions, shaped perfectly by his handsome jaw and his perfectly crafted face, the wealthy civilians cooed over her pink hair, her fine clothes and finally let out an indignant sigh when they spotted the jewellery that hung around her neck that could only indicate that this beautiful young woman with eyes as jade as summer grass has already been destined to seal her fate with another man. It was so that they concluded she was not available to marry their sons. What a shame that she could not marry and bear them some healthy grandchildren. Oh where did this fine woman come from? Pink hair, so exotic! She must come from an ancient lineage that holds power in one of the great villages, oh but which one! Maybe she'd give up her lover and marry your brother?

Sakura's eyes scanned the crowds but to no avail. She had sworn she had seen a man with raven hair pass her but she had lost sight at the amount of people that were crowding around her and gawking. Just as she was about to venture off to another street, she felt her hand pulled towards a group of women adorned in golds and riches lunching outside a cafe. They bombarded her with questions left, right and centre, asking her who she was being married off to and if they could dissuade her, and would she like a glass of wine?

"Sorry," she interrupted the women too busy caught up in their gossips and their delusions. "I'm actually looking for someone. A man about this height-" she gestured with her hand "-he has black hair and black eyes and-"

"Oh? That handsome young man we saw earlier? Is he your husband-to-be?"

"Makes sense why you'd be smitten all over him. All the other girls were once he passed this street. Poor man, who was to know that he was looking for his lost lady?"

"You've seen him?" Sakura asked impatiently. 

"Ah yes, dearie. Go to your love. He headed north, you'll see a water fountain. We're sorry to have been such a bother-"

Sakura didn't wait any longer than she had to as she freed her hand from the one of the woman's grasp and made her way north to hunt down the man who dared to double cross her. The last thing she heard from the group of women were, "Young love, eh?"

Sakura ran onward towards north until she came across the said water fountain with tears sprouting up high before cascading down and filling up the bowl of stone with more liquid before starting the cycle again. Sure enough, standing near the water fountain was a man of the vague description she had given to the women, his hand settled onto the artwork crafted onto the stone of the water fountain. 

She neared closer... and her heart caught in her throat. He turned towards her and a hint of recognition shadowed his face before a frown etched onto him. He was not happy to see her, far from it. 

His eyes held the midnight sky, trapping it within his dark orbs, mesmerising anyone who befell his dark gaze. However, Sakura noticed, where once stars glistened in his midnight eyes, they were only left blank - as if all light had been eroded.

The black strands of his hair settled around his face like a perfect set of dominoes, highlighting his refined bone structure and accentuating his sharp jaws that could cut glass. Where his hair was perfectly settled at the front, it had decided to rebelliously grow at all angles at the back, like a group of daggers, ready to strike its opponent.

' _ Sasuke?'  _

He is cold, distant. He is no long the warm, summer boy she remembers from her childhood nor is he the autumnal faded leaves that greets her with comfort she remembers from just a year prior. Rather, he is a cold, harsh winter that threatens to crack everything around him with his frost. But she does not blame him, for life has been cruel to him, she knows, as it has been to her. And the heavens only knows how much she has changed too.

What are two broken things if they cannot compliment each other?

Abandoned.

And lost.

By the cruel realities that this hellish life has to offer.

He glares at her for a long minute -  _ memories swirl in their gazes, time comes to a halt but simultaneously they travel back and forth between ages - _ and he leaves her, stranded. His back turned against her. 

Once again, he is gone. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLARIFICATION: What allegedly happened between Sakura and Itachi was NOT consensual. 
> 
> And before any Itachi fans come for me, Itachi is one of my favourite characters, I have just subverted some character traits for some characters in order to tell my story.
> 
> *
> 
> If you're thinking 'What is going oooon?', don't worry... I felt the same way whilst writing LOL. Actually I'm joking, I have everything planned out. The various things that happened in this chapter I decided were important when thinking about the entirety of this fanfic, as a whole - the bigger picture. 
> 
> Also I cannot stand Sakura/Sasuke with anyone else but themselves so it was really hard to write this chapter which is one of the reasons why it took longer than usual. But going forward, I think the updates might be a bit slow, sorry! 
> 
> I was also really nervous about writing this chapter too, so if you liked it please let me know (so I don't like, you know, delete it off the face of the internet...). 
> 
> Predictions? Constructive criticism? Anything that needs clarification? Don't be shy, comment below! :) 
> 
> AUs are so hard to write - please be nice. 


	6. 5.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've spoken to some of you about your thoughts, and for those that are confused: Sakura only agreed to marry Itachi because she's angry at the socio-political system of the world and also because she suspects Itachi had something to do with the death of his family. Why does Itachi want to take down the government? Well that's a mystery for now... ;) To make things even more complicated, Sakura believes that Itachi took advantage of her by getting her intoxicated.
> 
> For those of you disappointed/angry for how things turned out last chapter, if you've read 'Daylight'... you should know that 'Evermore' is and will be nothing like it. Evermore is based on songs from Taylor Swift's album with the same name and if you've heard the songs, you'll know to expect to get hurt. The intention of this fanfic is to break my readers and reduce you to tears, so I hope I accomplish that. I say that in the kindest way possible x

5.

Beats pulse to the ear of a fractured heart, and with every fraction of a second, they fade away into the distance. It is a moment before Sakura realises that the beats are his footsteps as they remove himself from her once again. The sound of his footsteps is all she hears, the blurring sight of him is all she sees; so close, yet so far. For how long has she been praying for him, hoping he was okay? For how long has she wondered about if he would ever reach out to her?

How dare he walk away?

The sight of him receding from her lulls memories back from a past that was filled with light-hearted moments to lift the weight of all the troubles of the world:

_A twelve year old Sakura returns to Konoha and joins Konoha Academy, and as she finds her seat as per the seating plan, she busies herself trying to scold the blonde-headed boy on her right to stop slobbering over her pink her._

_"Touch me one more time and I swear I'll kick you in the nuts!" Sakura yells._

_"Aw come on, Sakura-chan. You don't have to be so mean. I won't touch your hair again, I promise. But just one date?" the boy named Naruto whined._

_"I don't even know you!" Sakura declared._

_"Then come and get to know me-"_

_"Just leave her alone, you loser," came a calm and collected voice from her left. Sakura had been so absorbed into protecting herself from strange and grimy boys that she hadn't bothered to look to who was sitting on her left - or rather, she hadn't been given the off-chance to even check for the loudmouth who sat on her right._

_The voice that she would hear in her dreams... the voice that she had been told she had imagined by her parents and all those therapists in Suna and Kiri... the gentle and soft voice of the boy she had been adamant that he existed fluttered into her right ear. Sakura turned around slowly, her long pink hair brushing against both boys slightly, and right before her eyes sat the boy she had been told to forget for, according to her parents, he wasn't real and she had imagined him to cope with bullying as a child._

_"Sa-Sasuke-kun?" escaped the hopeful whisper out of her dainty mouth. Tears struck her eyes and a lump evolved into her throat. The hustling of the room became white noise to Sakura as she took in the teenage boy who sat with his hands crossed together under his chin, as if contemplating how best to cover up a homicide._

_His eyes flickered towards her, eyes that seemed duller than she remembered. "Sakura, huh?" he simply said._

_Emotions overtook her and before she could stop herself, Sakura lunged at him and pulled him into an embrace, her tears shedding onto his blue t-shirt._

_"WHA- Sakura... Stop being annoying... People are watching," he grumbled as Naruto threw profanities directed at Sasuke for being the boy that 'always gets all the chicks'._

_Sakura collected herself and apologised with a smile as she brushed her tears away. "I'm sorry, it's just that it's just been so long since we-"_

_"Hey jerk! Stop talking to her. Sakura was about to agree to go on a date with me, you ass!"_

_Sakura whipped around to face Naruto and was prepared to speak her mind when Sasuke cut in._

_"Don't mind him, Sakura," his tone immediately relaxed her as he fought to gain control over both his long-lost friend and the only person he had since the world stole everything else dear to him. "Naruto's a friend. He's a loser, and is extremely loud and obnoxious but he means well. Ignore him as I do. He..."_

_Sakura frowned as a dark gaze befell Sasuke once more, halting him from speaking whatever he was about to say. Before she could probe him further, however, the commotion in the classroom was shut down by their homeroom teacher._

_"I'm Mr Umino. Some of you may already know me as Iruka, but from here on out, there will be no first-name basis. This is the classroom we will meet in the morning for our registers and assemblies. Your English teacher is Mr Hatake, your PE teacher will be Mr Guy..."_

Years that had been solidified into their hearts and minds, years of friendship together as three - with Naruto, who she later learnt had met Sasuke at the orphanage - was just crumbling away as the younger Uchiha brother left her stranded, with only her thoughts for comfort.

Naruto, as she'd always known him, had been a ray of sunshine always brightening up a room whenever he entered. But she had heard the rumours from Ino and Kiba and some other civilians, that before Sasuke had been admitted to the orphanage, Naruto struggled emotionally. The pain of being socially outcast; for some reason being scrutinised for the death of a previous Hokage for the mere criminal of having been near the site during his own birth; the pain of never being chosen for adoption - it had been all too much, until of course, the lone Uchiha survivor had been left at the orphanage.

The Uchiha who refused to be adopted, no matter how rich the potential parents were, no matter that Mr Shimura had asked him for himself. The Uchiha had turned them all down, and Sakura learnt from Naruto, that that had been the start to their friendship. She also learnt from Naruto the words Sasuke had swallowed before reciting on the day of their reunion:

_"What's the deal with Sasuke? He's been so off. I don't ever remember seeing his eyes so sad, not even when his brother and father used to have their heated arguments. You've been friends with Sasuke for a while, right, Naruto? Would you know anything?" a twelve year old Sakura asked Naruto as they ate lunch together just outside Konoha Academy, waiting for Sasuke to arrive with his own lunch._

_"Hmm," Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he squinted his eyes, lost in deep thought. "Well, I don't think it's my place to tell you this... but I met Sasuke in the orphanage."_

_Sakura's world had stopped at that last word. The revelation caused her to drop her spoon on the ground, and for a second she swore she forgot how to breathe. Suddenly, the slight coldness she had felt around Sasuke made sense. His lack of conversation. His dulled eyes - he was aching with grief so deep, there was no way she could bring him back to the boy she once knew._

_"...and so, yeah. Me and Sasuke were never adopted. I was constantly playing pranks on him and everyone else around the village, and although Sasuke seemed like he resented me for it, deep down, even I could tell that he saw me as a brother. So now Mr Hiruzen, the Hokage, has us living together and gives us allowances with Mr Umino and Mr Hatake over-seeing our welfare," Naruto explained._

_At the sight of Sasuke approaching them with a tray in hand, Naruto added quickly, "But don't let Sasuke know I told you all this just yet. Or he'll definitely kick my ass this time. It's best if you speak with him yourself."_

_"Of course..." Sakura had replied, still shaken by the revelation that the family that she had come to know as a child had been eradicated, with only two survivors left, one of them no where to be found, at that._

Sasuke... who even at the age of twelve still felt shackled to his own demons, had soon felt his burdens weigh a little lighter with _both_ Naruto and Sakura there to help him sink out of his own darkness. She had helped him. She had told him she always would, for he had helped her once.

And here he was now, tarnishing what was once shiny and bright, by tearing it all away. But no matter how much life had changed them, had torn them apart, she would not give up on their friendship. She would not give up on _him_. Even now, he needed her. He did not know it, but she had a few more answers to his questions, and indeed, he needed her.

Sakura gathered her wits and ran towards her target, the blood coursing through her body wildly as her limbs moved in tandem. _Running, running_. But not fast enough. She could barely see him as she took a pause - allowed her breath to catch up to her. She flitted her head left to right, aimlessly searching for the man who refused to let her come too close. Why had he gone? As she looked to her right, she thought she spied wild dark hair and so she went onward towards him... and on and on and on... she could see his back in midst of a crowded street, and he didn't seem to have noticed that she was just mere inches behind him. Her hands drew forward, ready to grasp at his hand or his back when in a whirlwind, he had turned to face her and grabbed her wrist, causing her to almost topple over.

His grip on her wrist was firm, but not as firm as the glare that was being burrowed into her.

"Sasuke!" she gasped out. "What are you doing here? What has happened to you? Why did you _walk away from me?_ "

He pulls her closer to him until she could feel his breath dancing atop of her skin.

"Why am I here? I could ask you the same thing," Sasuke grimaced. His words dripped out of his scowl like acid, leaking onto her, meant to sting and erode away at all her convictions. "You need to stop tracking me. You think I don't know about how you've been asking around for me? You know why I left. Go home, Sakura. There's no space for people like you in this world. Go back to where you belong."

He lets go, and he is about to turn away again when she grabs his wrist this time and forces him to hear her out.

"Stop walking away!" she demands. "You don't know a thing! You're right, there is no space for me in this world - but not for the reasons you think. I'm no longer that passive girl you once thought me to be. Too much has happened, Sasuke! And I _don't_ belong in Konoha, or at least not yet with how things are..."

"So tell me, where is it you think you belong?" he interrogates, eyes digging into her soul, searching for answers.

"I... I haven't figured that out yet. But listen, about Itachi, I know that's why you left. To find him, and I need you to know-"

Her words are halted by the maddening rage beginning to fester in his dark eyes. The scowl imprinted on his face contorts into a snarl as his hand lands between her breasts and catches at the pendant that rests between.

He bends his head lower towards her so none of the passer-by's can notice that anything is amiss between the 'exotic young woman and her lover'.

"Where did you get this?" he rasps out to her in a menacing whisper. But before she can answer, the twinkle on her left hand that holds his right catches at his eye. It is evident that shock flickers through his face through the way his lips part and his eyes widen. "This... How do you..." His voice is almost childlike, as if he is lost in a sort of reverie. However, the moment only lasts for a second before he is back to grimacing at her as if a predator ready to devour its prey. "Sakura. What the fuck have you done?"

Gently, she brings her right hand to close around his hand that is still tightened around the pendant. A touch which she hopes brings him some sort of solace, before she brings the world crushing over him.

"Sasuke... You know I would never do anything to hurt you," she begins. "I need you to hear me out, without interruption. Can you do that?"

He nods. But he doesn't let her begin until after he says, "But not here. I don't trust this place."

So they walk side by side, feet stepping along cobblestones; shoulders brushing, a whisper of stories; shadows of their pasts merging.

She tells him about the socio-political dynamic of Konoha. The truth she learnt at eighteen - that her parents had been right all along: there was no space for a girl of her stature from such a lowly social class to even dream of rising to the top.

"...Those people that I asked about you, were also the same people I fucked over, with the illusion that I was befriending and helping them. Naruto and Ino understand my situation, and so I hope you can too," she begins with a disclaimer. But when he says nothing, she interprets it that he holds no judgement, or so she hopes, and that she is free to continue.

"You're right. I have been trying to track you as you're a dear friend to me and I wanted to know how you have been faring, but none of my researching has ever amounted to anything. So when I received a letter thinking it to be from you, I was confused and elated, but mostly confused. I didn't understand why you were reaching out to me, or what you thought of the woman I had become, but all I knew was that you needed me and I would do anything to help you."

She pauses when she hears Sasuke take in a sharp breath, but he stays true to his word and does not interrupt, and so she continues. "Obviously it wasn't you that wrote the letter to me. But I was so sure that it was because of the handwriting, every flick and stroke of the pen was yours I swear it was."

At this, Sasuke intervenes. "I never told you this, but as a child I had perfected my handwriting so that it could mimic Itachi's..." he admits. His voice is hollow and unyielding of emotion, but even she can tell that he has come to the realisation of where her narrative leads. A step. Two. The traders and customers around them bustle around but all she hears is the pregnant silence between them, bearing the truth that goes unspoken. She is unsure if she should continue as he has clearly delved deep into his own thoughts. However, the spell is broken when he says, "You found him, didn't you? Itachi."

Sakura reveals the truth with a slight nod before she speaks. "Yes," she confirms. "He was at the place we used to play when we were seven. He has a mansion there. I was expecting to find you, but it was your brother. He's the one who..." She holds up her left hand and allows the gleam of the ruby ring to speak for itself, before touching the pendant with the same hand. He sports a slight scowl, but for the most part, his face is unreadable as he gives her the time to explain.

"He said he wants me to be the matriarch. It's not what I want, Sasuke. You of all people would know that. I've never cared for love stories or romance, not really. And I certainly hold no romantic feelings for your brother, that's for sure. Ever since I found out about you losing your family... and once I got to know Naruto... Sasuke, you know my dream ever since then has been to become a doctor and open a mental health clinic for children, specifically for orphans, to help children like you and Naruto. That's always been my dream since I was twelve. But I can't do that in this system that we have where only the rich and powerful stay the rich and powerful, and everyone else can go fuck themselves. It's not fair. The system needs to change, and Itachi somehow knew this about me. He knew and he gave me certain terms. We marry and bring the government down together."

She notices the slight wince of Sasuke's face, but other than that, he remains impassive.

"But there's another reason I agreed to his terms..." she reveals. "Sasuke, your brother isn't the brother you remember, or at least the brother you think you knew. He..." She studies his face and wonders how to tell him that she has an inkling that his beloved older brother may have been the culprit behind the explosion that killed his entire family.

Sasuke stops his feet at the sudden stop in her words. His hands clamp onto her shoulders as he forces her to face him. His face is nothing short of seriousness as his watches her like a hawk with his piercing gaze, his head slightly tinted down to observe every muscle, every twitch, in her own feminine form.

"Sakura, tell me," he commands.

She gulps.

"Itachi, he..." The grip on her shoulders tightens as he beckons her to disclose what she knows, what she suspects. Her voice comes out as a startling whisper, as if not to frighten away a stray, vulnerable animal. "I believe he had something to do with what happened to your family."

Her suspicions have been spoken aloud, never to be taken back again. She suspects her words to grow to the magnitude of the distance between them, to erase their connected pasts, and leave them unchained for evermore. But instead, he says, "I think so too."

"What?" she blurts out.

One hand leaves her shoulder, and covers half of his face before he drops his hand again and looks at her steady.

"The last ten months that I've been trying to track Itachi... I've never found him. There's been times that I swear I've come close to finding him, but to no avail. It's like he's been leading me on, to find clues of our family's history... Things that never made sense- I'm slowly finding pieces unravelling before my very eyes, but now it's even more in a disarray than before... Nothing makes sense. But someone, a man named Orochimaru revealed himself to me. He said he could help me track Itachi down, and through him I also uncovered more Uchiha secrets that tell me something and nothing at once. But it was because of Orochimaru that I came to this place... Did you see the stone of that fountain I was near earlier? It has the same picture as your pendant," Sasuke informs her. His hand slips from her shoulder and lands between her breasts again, holding the named jewellery. "It's the Uchiha crest - my family's emblem. I've always wondered what it symbolised... and now I know a bit more."

A dark shadow passes over Sasuke's face as he reveals, "It is a fan to flames... The Uchiha have been responsible for multitudes of deaths over decades. Sakura, do you know what that means? My family has caused bloodshed too many times to count. I come from a tainted lineage."

Sakura is left stunned into silence. But it is not the myriad of his family secrets that silences her, no. It is the name of which he uttered: Orochimaru. Where had she heard that before?

The memory strikes her. "Sasuke! That man - Orochimaru! I don't think you should get too close to him. Itachi informed me that Orochimaru worked with Mr Shimura to murder and cover up Mr Sarutobi's death! He's a snake - or at least that's how Itachi described him," she tells him in a rush, trying to remember the bits and pieces that Itachi had disclosed to her in their 'meetings'.

Sasuke quirks a brow. "He's more of a snake than you know... But tell me, how much of what Itachi tells you do you believe?"

"I take everything he says with a pinch of salt," Sakura admits. "He's not to be trusted either. I've only stuck by him for the week because I wanted to get information out of him about your family for you, Sasuke. But now he wants to have this whole grand engagement party, and butlers and the like that I've never seen before are swarming the mansion trying to dress me up like some doll. I've had enough. I won't play the seductive fiance anymore-"

"Butlers? Sakura, were you followed?" Sasuke's eyes erratically glance around the crowded street, trying to affirm if anyone has been observing them for far too long.

"Huh? No, well at least I don't think so. Why do you say that?" she lets out in a rush, bemused.

Just at that moment a group of men on the other side of the street are heard looking for a certain Haruno Sakura, pink hair and green eyes. Women are heard saying they've seen the 'love-struck darling' looking for her beloved, and before Sakura could even react, she feels her wrist being encircled by a masculine hand and then tugged into an alleyway. Her back hits the hard wall of bricks and her front is trapped by the hardened chest of the man she once knew as her best friend. His chest pushes against her heart, and they can feel each other's heartbeats race. The adrenaline courses through them, and fear almost pricks at their hearts. However, the warmth of their bodies remind each other that they have a friend close to their heart, so close that they can hear it beat. Their faces are both pushed towards the side as their breaths almost mingle together. They watch for movement on the main street, listen to the call of her name and footsteps, hoping the commotion dies down. They are so entranced by what is happening around them that they do not realise their closeness, and how their bodies meld together so well. Their faces are distorted by the bright lights of the lanterns that hang from the windows of houses as twilight greets the sky, and the crowd simmers away. Both Sasuke and Sakura are still acutely aware of the street that lies before them, and together, if they were aware of each other's presence, they may have noticed that they have transgressed lifetimes watching as _ninjas - samurais - cowboys - men in suits with radios_ were hunting her down, looking for her. But they are left unaware, and do not realise how their bodies naturally call out to each other, and cling for the other, finding solace and comfort - a remedy that cannot be found in all the lands over the world; found only in each other.

They do not know that they are magnets to each other, and that fate binds them time and time again through lifetimes, to be together evermore.

When the night falls around the town, clasping it within its dark hands, Sakura finally lets out a long breath.

She turns her face towards Sasuke and admits, "I can't go back. If I go back I'll only want to kill him." She has chosen to opt not to tell Sasuke of how his older brother has defiled her, ruined her, taking away the only innocence she had left. Already he has too much to bear with, and she will not allow herself to burden Sasuke with anymore.

But Sasuke refuses her wish to be let free, to be unshackled from the chains of torment she has found herself in.

" _Listen_ to me Sakura! You have to stay. It's the only way," he pleads. "It's the only way to keep tabs on Itachi. He trusts you enough to disclose some truth to you. Continue to coax him if need be-"

"I can't, Sasuke," she tries to escape this damned fate of hers.

"You can. I believe in you, Sakura. It's the only way I'll be able to find peace. Isn't that what you want?"

She frowns up at him. He was never known to manipulate others emotions, but then again, neither was she. She bites the inside of her cheek before she agrees. "Fine. But only because it's you. But I'm not marrying that man. I know he's your brother, but I hate the way he looks at me like I'm something to be devoured."

"You won't have to," he promises. "We'll be done with him before then. And you won't be alone either. If the mansion will be as busy as you say, then it'll be no feat for me to meet you. I'll stay in touch. Take care, Sakura."

And with that he brushes a stray hair from her forehead and lightly taps her in the centre, before he leaves.

In the darkness, she swears she saw the same gentle smile that she remembers that could caress all her nightmares away. But she is unsure, and maybe it was just a trick of the moonlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my Twitter thread to see which Evermore lyrics inspired different scenes of this chapter: 
> 
> https://mobile.twitter.com/RezuuRoar/status/1366023931363274755


	7. 6.

The crispiness of the leaves under his feet are the only things that speak to him in this quiet, desolate world. The night is bleak and blackness surrounds him as he makes his way towards the car gifted to him from one of Orochimaru's men: Jugo. A man who for reasons that Sasuke doesn't understand, is loyal to him like a dog is loyal to its owner.

Sasuke enters his convertible, and his hand grips the wheel firmly as rage festers across his face. His nose crinkles as a scowl surfaces and as his brows crease together: flames of anger boil over his body until he cannot take it anymore and he bangs his head on the steering wheel. He grits his teeth and it is the only thing stopping him from screaming and smashing the windows into shards of glass that would represent his soul at this very moment.

A swirl of emotions and the weight of the world crushes over Sasuke. He feels as if he has been buried under a ton of bricks and there is no way of digging himself out without being tattooed in bruises and scars in the aftermath. Itachi... Sakura... It had suddenly all become too much. Seeing _her_ again had been too much. He had been aware of Sakura's movements as Kabuto, another one of Orochimaru's right hand men, had discovered that a certain Sakura Haruno had been asking civilians across towns close to Konoha if they had heard of any news about the younger Uchiha brother. Sasuke had not wanted to cross paths with either Sakura nor Naruto... not anytime soon. He had hoped to come face to face with Itachi, discover the secrets of their family's demise and sort out the misplaces puzzled of his wrecked life.

What _had_ actually happened the day he lost his family?

Why did he never see his brother again?

Why did his gentle, older brother disappear off the face of the earth and not even leave a note, an email, reach out through social media? He had had ten years to do so, but somehow, Itachi had found it was suitable to leave his traumatised younger brother as an orphan to fend for himself and never return to check up on how he was doing.

A dark thought had always lurked within the deepest depths of Sasuke's mind, clawing away at him... eroding at his heart and mind... but Sasuke had always pushed it away, not wanting to deal with the torment behind the suspected truth, that perhaps, Itachi had ran and not returned because he had been the culprit. He had been the one to take everything away from Sasuke, destroy all ties and bonds with their family in one night. But it had not just been their parents who had left this world - it was all the Uchiha's, every single extended family member had been eradicated, and Sasuke could not understand why or how it had come to be. The Uchiha's were a proud family, and even whilst having a 'main household' it was no secret to even a young boy of the disagreements and conflicts that existed between the Uchiha's. Even between his own father and older brother, there had been far too many times where they had exchanged words to wound and had not met eye to eye. So why had the Uchiha's decided to congregate all in one setting for one night to only find themselves slaughtered, burnt like leaves disintegrating into ashes? Sasuke did not know, and it angered him.

He had hoped for so many years that Itachi was not the one responsible, but Sakura's words and the family secrets he had started to uncover affirmed and gave voice to his suspicions and they curled around his windpipe, ready to break him. But there was still a slight hope that trickled down from Sasuke's eyes that allowed himself to breathe: there was no real proof that Itachi had really been responsible behind the arson of the Uchiha's, and so Sasuke would not let the thoughts fully consume him.

Sasuke raised his head from the steering wheel and looked up at the moon: the phase of the moon tonight was a waxing gibbous, not perfectly round, but just enough. It reminded him of the Uchiha crest, and just that thought once again angered Sasuke. His thoughts paved their way back to the Uchiha pendant worn around Sakura's neck that bounced against her heart, and the thought angered him. Moreso, the ruby ring that glinted in the sun that was placed around her finger threw Sasuke into a frenzy. Sasuke elbowed the car door in frustration before raking one hand across his hair in an attempt to pacify himself - but the attempt was short lived.

His mother's necklace and ring - something he had been sure had been lost in the fire - now appeared around the skin of his best friend. Both him and Itachi knew that wearing those jewellery were to signify a Uchiha matriarch, and so the thought of Itachi having gifted them to Sakura meant that Itachi was not playing around when he had told Sakura that he wanted her to be the matriarch, Sasuke mused. But why her? And how long had Itachi been tracking her movements? And ' _how did he fucking have mother's necklace and ring?'_

The questions swirled in Sasuke's mind, closing in on him and suffocating him to the point that he felt breathless. He had managed to stop himself from making a scene around Sakura, as even though the sight of her had irritated him and for her to wear his mother's jewellery was something he had taken to deep offence, he still deeply cared for her and she did not deserve to be heckled with his frustrations and anger without giving her the chance to explain first. So he had obliged and listened. He had reserved his thoughts and emotions... for Itachi.

He knew that Sakura wanted to kill his older brother, for the pain that Itachi had supposedly inflicted on himself he believed, and although he does not want to believe it and still hopes the prospect of Itachi having killed his family is unfounded... if her suspicions were correct, he would do it first. He does not want it to come to that, but if he must, he will avenge his family.

***

She moves across the night with ease, her unresolved turmoils leading her way back to the mansion. She is anxious to be back where she parted from. How would she react when she came face to face with Itachi? The mere thought of him left imprints on her mind that were marked in tatters and ruins: how dare he touch her in places where no other man had ever been? How dare he rid her of her belongings and intercept her drugs and use it on herself - she was still unsure about what had happened on that night, but she was sure about one thing: Itachi was more dangerous than she had first anticipated, and the route of her narrative seemed to lead to his death.

It is past midnight when she arrives at the locked golden gates that cages in the mansion. A gate which had not been locked the first time she had made her appearance. She notices a buzzer and presses it, waiting for the intercom to speak back at her. It takes a few more buzzes before she is answered.

"We do not accept guests. Especially at this late hour," comes an unfamiliar gravely voice of a middle-aged man.

"It's Sakura," she responds back. "I'm engaged to Itachi. I believe he'd be expecting me back, no matter the hour."

Her words are a mastery of magic and the golden gates unshackle themselves, allowing the weight of a teenage girl to be able to push them open until she has entered back into the magnitude of Itachi's palace. She is merely a pawn at his disposal, but she has a few tricks up her own sleeve, and she will play her part well. For herself, for Sasuke.

She is welcomed into the building by unfamiliar faces and well-spoken courtesies, both of which she pays no mind. She first treks upstairs to the master bedroom, the room of the owner of this cursed mansion, but alas it is locked. Sakura reflects that this may be the best for now, although the fact that she still has no idea of his whereabouts tugs at her mind as she takes herself to her own room and inspects the clothing that had been handed to her. They are all of quality material, but that is not what preoccupies her mind as she rummages through them, turning them inside-out. She is relieved to find that her new clothes had not been bugged with speakers that may record her conversations, and so she relocates her task of searching for cameras and audio tapes to the rest of her room.

Expectedly, she locates a tiny device made to record audio under her mattress and within a drawer. Sakura crushes them with her feet before she allows sleep to pardon her troubles and slip her away into unsuspecting territories...

_She is back at the dinner table, on Itachi's lap. She straddles him and makes a joke about how the name 'Sakura Uchiha' fits so well between his lips._

_She holds her glass around him but does not take a sip. Instead, she takes his and downs it. It was untouched before she had placed her lips on the rim, she is sure of it now. Had that been his plan all along? Knowing that she only drank from whatever was his, and so he played along with her little farce and beat her at her own game, drugging his own glass, knowing full well she would disregard her own and go for his._

_In her dream state she can see herself losing her rationality, her own morals. She whispers vulgar thoughts into his ear, before she agrees to follow him. He leads and she complies._

_She is placed on his bed and a warm wet towel is dabbed across her neck, something which she believes to be his mouth taking a taste of her. Was she mistaken?_

_She wants it to stop. She does not want to feel like this - to be_ taken _like this. But there are hands gliding over her body, pulling at her clothes, leaving her bare. Her body is on fire but she cannot do anything about it. It is too late before she realises that she herself has unclothed her feminine body. She is exposed - but she is alone. Still, the drug courses through her veins and she wants the intrusion in her body to fade away, alas, there is nothing she can do about it but she still tries to pierce her own skin with her fingernails. Her nails dig deep into her skin leaving purple marks that stain her body. She has been tattered and ruined, by her own hands. But her mind has been destructed and tormented by_ him _who had put his plan into motion, intending to break her slowly._

_In her dream state she can see him now, but she swears his usual unreadable inky eyes are now stained in red-_

Sakura awakes with a gasp.

Her dream had exposed pieces of that night that had been cast away from her, but what realities really lay between her fantasy of her dream? She could not trust her own mind at this point, as it may be playing tricks on her - attempting to piece together what had really happened and denying that she had been tainted by that man. She decided that she would have to confront him if she wanted the truth.

The morning sun makes itself known to her as it peeks through the slit between her curtains. Sakura dresses herself in a casual white dress that reaches her knees and uses the ensuite bathroom to make herself look presentable for the day. She leaves for the adjoining room but once again it is locked. She thinks to use one of her hairs pins to pick the lock, but before she is able to even sift her hands through her short tresses, she is called by one of the maids for breakfast, and would she like to choose the food and wine for the engagement party today?

Sakura scurries along the corridor, careful to avoid the servants and maids who speak to her, asking her questions of where she was yesterday as she makes her way across the vast rooms of the mansion, attempting to locate Itachi's office where they had had some of their meetings discussing names that cast a shadow such as Danzo Shimura and Orochimaru.

Even if Itachi is not here for her to confront about what he may or may not have done to her, even if she cannot try to coax out of him the truth about his family, there must be _something_ in his office that connects him to how he knows about the dark secrets of the world of politics - and most importantly - how he knew of _her_ and what she had been up to for the last ten months.

Sakura unclips a hairpin and makes work of the lock. The door speaks in creeks at her insolence for having disrupted its quiet as she tiptoes in, careful not to make a sound. A library of books covers one side of the small office; a desk sits in the centre, a plant pot on the desk as well as a closed laptop and some stationery. She sits at the chair by the desk and contemplates how to open and turn on the laptop without leaving fingerprints. There are no gloves nearby, and any she did have with her before alongside her medical kits had been confiscated with everything else. In the end Sakura decided to forgo the attempt at trying to snoop through his laptop, it was unlikely that she would have gotten any access anyhow as hacking was not a skill set of hers. Sakura's green eyes scan the room lazily when a book on a shelf catches her eye:

' _The Will of Fire - The History of Konoha_ '. It was a text she had studied in History class at school before the current Hokage had ordered the burning off all books with the slogan 'The Will of Fire'. Shimura had stated that the slogan of the previous Hokages on textbooks for students and civilians alike to read were propaganda, and if anyone was caught with any such text then they would incur a major fine.

Sakura stood up from where she was sitting as she was drawn to the textbook. As she opened it, she noticed how the pages had yellowed with age and had tears and folds over them, as if they had been read and touched by hands several times. Sakura notices a bookmark and finds the pages it lays upon: _67_ and _68._ There is a handwritten note next to the page number 67 that states _UM-TFOTS.93_. The actual content of the pages say nothing all too exciting except something about how the term 'Hokage' emerged from folklore about a different time.

The note baffles Sakura at first, but as she placed the book back, she realised that the shelves are labelled with letters signifying who the authors of the texts are in order to organise the texts like a proper library. A spark ignites in Sakura as she realises what the letters in the text may have been referring to, and she feels a rush of adrenaline as it feels like she is in some sort of escape room, ready to solve a puzzle and find out more about the mysterious Itachi Uchiha. Sure enough, there is a shelf marked 'UM', and as she scans the few texts she notices a book which title has the same initials as the rest of the marked page: ' _The Fortress of the Sharingan'_. The book is black and the words are lettered in gold.

Sakura opens the cover of the book and finds a note tucked into the front:

_To Itachi,_

_Enclosed in this book are the tales which you have sought._

_You are now indebted and belong to the Akatsuki._

_Pain_

The word 'Pain' is written in what Sakura can only suspect to be dried blood as it stains through the note. Sakura is left more baffled than before, left again with far more questions than answers, however, she will not let that stop her. Sakura flicks through the pages, looking to locate page 93 due to the previous handwritten note by Itachi, but as her thumb brushed against the page 72, she drops the book with a _thump_ at the call of her name.

"Miss Haruno?"

Sakura turns, startled, at the interruption and of being caught snooping through Itachi's private office to find only the butler from the previous day.

"Is everything okay?" he asks as he looks her up and down slowly.

Sakura picks up the book and tucks it back into place, delaying her response.

"Miss?" he asks again.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replies, a slight bite in her tone. "I was simply becoming accustomed with the texts of my fiance. We will share a future together, it only makes sense to start sharing our hobbies and interests, wouldn't you agree?"

"Ah... Yes, to be sure. You are quite right, Miss Haruno," he agrees not too confidently as he wrings his hands together. She reads his body language and deduces that he is nervous. "But-"

"You," she interrupts. "Where's Itachi?"

"No one knows where he is, Miss," he responds with a calmness, however she can read beneath his exterior and notices his clammy hands and the sweat protruding along his brows.

"You expect me to believe Itachi would leave his manor out in the open with his employees not knowing how to contact him in an emergency?" she challenges, and then adds with her green eyes narrowing as her voice dipped lower, "Don't lie to me." A threat of some sort. She half expects it not to work as this man does not - _should not_ \- know of what she is capable of. But the sweat picks up, and even from where she stands she is sure that his heart rate increases, and as he finally relents and speaks she notices the dryness of his mouth.

"He is on a business trip. I believe you were tailing him..." His voice fades away as he realises that he has just exposed that she was on the right trail to pursuing him the previous day but had got side-tracked. "He will be back before the engagement, so you don't need to worry, Miss." With that, he gives up a weak smile before ushering her out of the office and mumbling how Itachi shouldn't have been so careless to have left his office open for anyone to walk into.

Aimlessly, Sakura walks the halls and then the gardens of the manor trying to piece together what she has found... but all her calculations amount to nothing. All she has learnt is that Itachi is a meticulous man, more than she had previously presumed, if the riddles illustrated by the page numbers suggested anything. It is as Sakura is walking around the garden that she spots it: a fountain twin to the one she had seen Sasuke by before, with the Uchiha emblem crafted into the stone that holds the water within.

Gears turn in Sakura's mind, thoughts wash over her cascading through like a current that has no dam to stop it and she is almost overwhelmed by the nothingness that her thoughts conclude to. But one thing is for a certainty, _that town_ had some sort of affiliation with the Uchiha. As Sakura gingerly steps closer towards the stone fountain, intending to trace the curves of the crest as she had seen Sasuke once done, something halts her: on the opposing side of the fountain sits an old woman on a rocking chair muttering to herself.

Sakura cannot hear the words the woman says, but she is sure she reads the word "Uchiha" on the woman's lips, and so Sakura nears her as if creeping up onto a wounded, stray animal, intending to hear whatever secret this old crone may keep within the whispers she holds dear to herself. Sakura steps into the orbit of the old woman, so close she is that she can smell the dampness that clings onto the older lady's cardigan.

"...tradition and culture... you know better than... Madar..." is all Sakura can decipher, even as close as she is beside the old lady. Sakura begins to reconsider her intentions, as surely this old woman knows nothing more about Itachi Uchiha than herself, and so begins to turn around when her hand is caught and held back by bony, wiry fingers that stroke her own soft, creamy hands. Sakura is startled at first, but allows herself to be pulled back towards the old woman.

"Ah Mikoto, dear," the old woman says. "You came."

Sakura holds in a gasp at the name of which she has been addressed, before she kneels down before the rocking chair and responds meekly, "Yes... I've come, ma'am."

"And how has he been fairing? Your lord husband I mean. I know that Fugaku has always been firm and unyielding even as a child, but surely as a father and husband he is a changed man, no?" the lady caws like a crow, words spilling out of her mouth without even a thought to let the other party to respond. "As his ol' nanny I can only hope that he has grown into a man that is devoted to his wife and children as he is devoted to the customs and laws of his family traditions and the land he lives on. Does he take care of you well? Does he feed Itachi and little Sas? Have you brought them along with you?"

Sakura's lips move along each other, parting then sealing itself, with no words escaping her throat as it constricts and then releases tirelessly at the revelation that this woman was as close to the family as being the late patriarch's _nanny._ It is only when she hears the pressing call of, "Mikoto?", that Sakura finally answers.

"Yes... Anyone can see that Fukagu-kun is devoted to me and our sons, you don't need to worry," Sakura replies, trying her best to sound as earnest as the Mikoto she had always remembered.

"Ah, well that is good to hear, my child," the woman nods with satisfaction. "So, what news do you bring to me this time?"

Sakura hesitates before she reveals, "Itachi... he is set to be engaged. He is no longer so little, but is now a man grown." Sakura's teeth grate together as she remembers how 'grown' Itachi is with the consuming and almost perverted stares he has always glanced her way.

"Really? Engaged? Knowing that husband of yours it'll be to some long-distanced relative just like you and Fugaku. I can only pray that it works out between Itachi and whoever he is paired with, but for the love of God, Mikoto- You need to really put a stop to this Uchiha nonsense of marrying within the family just to-" The words stopped and so did the rocking of the chair. For half a heartbeat, Sakura had almost thought that the woman had breathed her last breath and had knocked on the doors of death, awaiting to begin her next life when she felt her hand being gripped tighter.

 _"Keep the Uchiha's bloodline safe and pure. Go!"_ The woman releases Sakura's hand and swats it away when Sakura tries to grasp at her again as the woman shuffles away from her with her cane. Sakura is left standing by a rocking chair that rocks for a few more rounds before the movement fades away until it is motionless like the sky that is painted in clear blue. Despite her surroundings being a picture of stillness and calm, Sakura's own mind are in tatters as she is left unsure whether the woman's last request of hers was a continuation of her previous thought to Mikoto Uchiha, or if... the old woman had demanded something off of Sakura Haruno.

With no one to talk to and no one to trust, Sakura resigns to her quarters after agreeing that she will take a look at the magazines full of wine and food privately in her own room. Lunch too, is requested to be taken to her room, for a bride-to-be wishes to have some peace before she is requited once again with her loved one, is the whisper that carries along the corridor and into the garden and around again, until dinner too is served in Haruno's chamber.

It has been an hour since Sakura had scraped her dinner outside of her window, allowing it to fall into the pits of the bushes rather than the pits of her stomach, for fear of what would happen if she did not try to stay one step ahead - even when she had, she had been left unawares. Who knew what these butlers and maids of Itachi's had been ordered to do? How could she trust the workers of a man who has meetings with someone who calls himself 'Pain' and signs his letters with blood? She had learnt that the world was cruel and twisted, and in turn she too had been defiled and had become accustomed to the dark ways of the world, but there were some avenues which even she had not explored nor become acquainted with.

It was as she was lying on her bed, making notes of the timeline of events which she had learned about in order to make sense of all the information that she had gathered that she heard a beating against the large doors that opened up towards her balcony. At first Sakura had thought that it was just hail, as the snow had not completely melted away in this region, however, when she heard a rattle of the handles on the side of the balcony, she became alert and wondered and hoped if this could be the alternative to her hunger strike until Itachi returns with answers...

Sakura made her way to the curtains and pulled them apart, only to come face to face with a familiar sight behind the glass panes: his hair stood up in spikes behind him, but at the front, it fell into place like a love story that meets its climax once two lovers confess their undying feelings. As she opened the door she was met with his onyx eyes that held a hint of urgency in them as he pushed past her and settled onto her bed as he took his boots off and dusted off the snow.

"Sasuke!" she finally breathed out. "What- Why- How did you _get_ up here? You know there are vines that have stinging nettles alongside the walls so people _don't_ climb up?"

He looked up at her and regarded her coolly before he stated, "That's exactly how I came up. And now I need you to treat me."

"You're incredulous!" Sakura groaned as she knelt in front of Sasuke inspecting the damage of his hands; a redness had already appeared, however the telltale signs of white spots had still not begun emerging on his skin signified that it was only the early signs of a rash. "I don't have anything on me. All my equipment has been taken from me so I can only apply soap which is an alkaline and so should neutralise-"

"Sakura," Sasuke said her name with ease and she looked up at his relaxed composure, awaiting his next words with impatience. "I brought dock leaves." He nodded at the backpack he brought alongside him and she immediately opened it up and found it nestled at the top.

"So I take it you anticipated this? You've been planning this for a couple of hours, hm? Because you can't find dock leaves around here, especially in this snow," Sakura reflected out loud.

"Hn," Sasuke responded back with a grunt. "I was driving around. Noticed a few things."

"I see," Sakura replied. "But how did you even know this was my room? There's many grand windows with vines laced around them."

"Ah, but yours is the only one that throws food out every couple of hours."

Sakura winced at that. "Is that why... Is that why you brought a packed lunch with you...?" she asked, referring to the box of dumplings under the dock leaves she found and almost sounding hopeful.

"Take it," he said. "But shouldn't you be tending to me, Sakura?" He raised a brow at the fact that she was still holding the dock leaves but had neglected to relieve him of his sting.

"For the first ten minutes it's best to avoid touching the rash, every great doctor knows this," Sakura relayed, a hint of sarcasm playing at the last of her words.

"And I suppose you're the greatest of all doctors, right?" Sasuke taunted with a slight smirk. She was sure he knew what that title meant to her - the fact it was something unattainable for her due to her lowly birth, and so she only frowned and smacked him lightly on the arm to which his smirk faded away. "Anyhow, you better eat up."

Sakura mumbled a, "Thanks," as she took the dumplings stuffed with tomatoes and started to satiate her hunger crossed-leg on the floor in front of Sasuke.

Sakura watched Sasuke as he took in her room, the lavish silk gowns that spilled out of her wardrobe and the comfortable bedding which he sat upon, until his eyes cast onto her notes beside him.

"Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki's car crash/death on October 10th 2002," Sasuke read aloud from her notes. "Planned death by Shimura. Defect of Orochimaru - 2003. Uchiha massacre - 'accidental' explosion; 2010. Hiruzen Sarutobi's death - planned death by Orochimaru and Shimura; 2015. Shimura rises to power and becomes Hokage; 2016. Itachi part of 'Akatsuki', 2021." At that last note, Sasuke flicks his eyes towards Sakura and his eyes stand cold as his face settles into a stony expression, seriousness seeping over every inch of his face. His lips press together until they are a thin line, and suddenly she can feel every touch of snow on her body, even as she is indoors, as his gaze on her are icicles ready to take her into hostage under his piercing gaze. As she takes a bite into her final dumpling, a rice falls stray into her lap instead. Her hands are unsteady as she looks back, fazed by his expression.

"Sakura," he says, a slight aggression interlaced with the way he calls out to her. "What do you know of the 'Akatsuki'?"

"I... I don't know much," she reveals. "Only that there's some guy who calls himself 'Pain' and that Itachi is a part of them. I don't actually know _how long_ Itachi has been a part of the Akatsuki, but it was only today that I found a note addressed to him tucked inside one of his books."

Sasuke sighed in relief at her answer, and it is then that Sakura asks, "Why? And what do _you_ know of them?"

Sasuke looks back at her again and his stony mask settles on his face once again. "They're a gang in the underground world - it's unclear who is part of them as they aren't well known but the name 'Akatsuki' has been popping up whenever I have found some sort of trace of Itachi or the Uchiha's being behind some sort of murder or a disappearance.

"I... I was afraid that you were affiliated with them, but I'm glad Itachi hasn't roped you into anything that could end up with you in prison, or worse, dead. As to how I've come to know of them..." Sakura noticed how Sasuke's eyes shifted uncomfortably away before glancing towards her again. "Orochimaru. He was once a part of the Akatsuki, which is how I now know that Itachi has been associated with them for about ten years or so."

Sakura frowned at this new piece of information. "Do you think it's wise to be affiliated with this Orochimaru man then? From what I've heard, he double crosses people and leaves them for half dead-"

"And you don't?"

A slight gasp left Sakura's lips before she refuted his words. "Are you really judging me, Sasuke? I really thought after everything, you of all people would understand the choices I've had to make. It hasn't been easy, living on barely nothing and having nothing to amount to! And with all that piling up on my plate, wearing me thin, my nights were spent thinking about whether _you were okay_! And even now, I've risked myself for you. For you, Sasuke. I've agreed to come back here to help you find peace but all you have for me is judgement!"

"I'm not judging you, Sakura. I'm only trying to make you realise the irony of your words," Sasuke quietly offered, a silent plea to make amendments. "How have you been anyway? Have you managed to get anything else out of Itachi? Other than confirm that he works for the Akatsuki?"

Sakura swallowed the rest of her frustration and looked away abashed at the way she had just lashed out at him. "No... He still hasn't returned. But there was an old woman who mistook me for Mikoto though. She revealed herself to me as your father's old nanny... She seemed to have it in her head that both you and Itachi were still young, so I..." Sakura looked towards Sasuke meekly to which he inclined his head for her to continue. "I acted the role of your mother, Sasuke... I informed her that Itachi is soon to marry." Sakura bit her lip as a cold haze froze over the inky pools of his eyes. "I know I can never be like your mother, Sasuke. I just thought that if I pretended to be her, then maybe she may reveal some secrets to someone so trusting, someone she is familiar with. I'm sorry, Sasuke. I'm not trying to replace your mother or take away her position in the family. I know she was highly respected, not just within the Uchiha, but even with the common folk. I've heard the stories from Ino," Sakura added with a rush.

"It's fine, Sakura. You don't have to explain," Sasuke said, but there was a lack of comfort in his words, and only coldness where there should be warmth. "Besides, there's something I didn't tell you last time I saw you. All these people within the mansion - the butlers, the old widow, the maids - they all come from common families who bought their living through working with the Uchiha. It's _their_ families which are annihilated if they don't comply to the rules or have challenged the Uchiha's in any way... So don't reveal too much about yourself to anyone you talk to here. If you need to pretend to be my mother, then so be it. If it keeps you safe then I don't mind, I just don't want to lose another precious person, Sakura, do you understand?"

Sakura digests this slowly, taking in his words slowly as it gathers into her mind until it settles like snowflakes finally layering into a thin film of snow on the ground.

"Is that why, yesterday, you pulled me into the alley when I mentioned there were butlers?" Sakura asks, remembering how Sasuke had suddenly became hyper-aware of their surroundings and had pressed his body against hers until it seemed as if she was out of sight to anyone else. "Was that town also owned by the Uchiha? Was that the reason for the fountain? I noticed the old widow rocking near Itachi's fountain - it had the same markings of the Uchiha crest."

"Yeah," Sasuke breathed out, confirming her suspicions. "I figured there was something strange about that place. I think I know now. Most of the people from that town come from families who have once served the Uchiha... so by loyalty, they all possibly feel like they owe allegiance to Itachi." Sasuke brought his fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose as he exhaled gruffly, closing his eyes in the process to relieve some tension. When he opened his eyes again he looked down at Sakura and said, "Here's what we'll do. You continue going to speak to the old widow whilst Itachi is away. Get whatever information out of her that you can."

"And you?" Sakura asked, as she took his hands in hers and started to rub the dock leaves gently onto them. The touch of their skin against each other sent shivers down her spine; it was a pleasant feeling to be around him, despite feeling as if the world was crashing in on them. The touch of his skin, knowing that he was alive and well, was reassuring to her, and it kept her going, wanting to see the end of whatever it was that he was planning. She wanted to stand by his side as he finally finds closure in his life, and maybe then he would return the favour and help her climb the social ladder, outside of Konoha. It was a small fantasy of hers, to live with a dear friend, but what else was there to hope for in this desolate world?

A similar feeling seemed to reside in Sasuke, Sakura mused, as he softly responded with, "I'll help you." His eyes were soft as he looked down to where their hands met. "I'll take care of you, Sakura. I'll act as if I work for the Uchiha. I intend to keep you alive."

"By feeding me dumplings?" she asked, her eyes innocent as she looked up at him.

"Yeah," he smirked down at her.

Once again, she felt safe with Sasuke Uchiha by her side. It almost felt like old times again, two best friends, toying with each other with brilliant smiles and snide remarks on the tip of their tongues. A past of fresh summer days were behind them, fuelling them on for a better tomorrow, even as they sat together in a harsh winter that threatened spring to not bud anew. But somehow, within his presence, as she pressed the pain of her hands within his cold ones, she could feel safe and as if his mere existence could melt away and replace the winter's frost, and allow the buds of spring to be born, for who needs winter when Sasuke Uchiha was the epitome of a harsh season? Somehow she knew, as long as they were together, they could get through whatever the hurricane of life threw at them through its storms and winds.

Sakura stopped rubbing the dock leaves onto his palm and left him on her bed as she brought a jug of cold water, a towel and some soap and began to massage the soapy cloth over his hands whilst she sat next to him. His hands may have been tarnished by whatever it was that he was withhelding from her, whatever secrets he harboured behind those inky pools, for she was sure that any association with Orochimaru was nothing holy nor admirable. Despite the prospective soiled hands which she held and cleansed, to her his hands were worth more than any mansion, how grand they were to promise to keep her safe whilst she was trapped within a monster's cage.

As she finished wiping his hands dry, she held them in her grasp close to her heart. She whispered to him her heart's desire, "I have but one request, Sasuke."

It is as he looks at her that she notices the closeness of their faces. She could count the eyelashes that protrude from his eyes if she cared, but instead she takes note of how his slender nose fits so perfectly in the centre of his face, creating a symmetrical picture that any woman would die to have for herself.

"What is it?" he asks.

"Stay with me tonight, Sasuke," she requests in a hushed tone, studying his face as he gives nothing away to her demands.

"If that is what you wish."

His words are of finality, and it is done.

They cushion themselves on her bed, a distance of worlds apart between them which is filled with whispers of their pasts and she is almost 13 again - brimming with hope and a want for a better future. Hope and desires to save little boys from a cruel fate at an orphanage that does not want its inhabitants who have nowhere else to go. She knows where her past lies with him, and somehow, somewhere deep inside, a seed sprouts inside her waiting to grow to want a future with him too...

If her heart was made of stone, then he is the ivy that grows beneath it, threatening to cradle her and wash her in green colours of life and save her from her anger at the world.

Her eyes flutters close, and as they do, she once again sees the seven year-old boy who once beckoned her to a land where they could escape to from all the fears of the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Felt cute, might delete later. 
> 
> Hi, hey, hello! If you came from 'Daylight', welcome back, nice to see you again! 
> 
> I'm kind of just testing the waters with this prologue, but I already have a whole plot in mind... This will be a Sakura-centric modern AU, so don't expect all characters to have the exact same personality traits as in canon - although there will be some parallels! 


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